Manchester City have £90 million bid for Declan Rice rejected, report says

Manchester City have seen their bid for West Ham United captain Declan Rice, worth a potential £90 million, rejected, according to a report.

The Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday that the Premier League champions' offer of £80m plus a potential £10m in add-ons for the 24-year-old midfielder had been turned down by the Hammers.

The report added that Arsenal, who have already had two bids for Rice rejected by West Ham, are now preparing a third offer to land their primary transfer target.

The Gunners, who finished second to City in the recently concluded 2022/23 Premier League season, were first to tempt West Ham with a £90m offer. It now seems any club wanting to prize Rice away from the London Stadium will have to at least match West Ham's valuation of £100m.

On Monday, several UK publications including The Athletic and Sky Sports reported that City had lodged a formal offer for Rice, while Football Insider claimed Manchester United had also entered the fray by offering defender Harry Maguire in a player swap.

The Hammers board values Rice at £100m and appears will not countenance selling their star player for anything less. It remains to be seen whether City will be prepared to enter into a bidding war for the highly rated England international.

City's resolve to sign Rice means they will almost certainly have to match their record outlay for a player – Jack Grealish signed from Aston Villa in August 2021 for £100m – or break their own transfer record.

Rice has established himself as one of the best midfielders in Europe over the past two seasons and led West Ham to their first trophy in 43 years this month with victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final.

West Ham chairman David Sullivan said a gentleman's agreement means Rice can leave the London Stadium despite a year remaining on his contract with the option to extend it by a further 12 months.

Rice joined West Ham's academy from Chelsea as a teenager and has been ever-present since his breakthrough season in 2017/18. He took over the captaincy after Mark Noble's retirement last year.

Following Ilkay Gundogan's departure for Barcelona, City boss Pep Guardiola is keen to reinforce his midfield and is on the brink of signing Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea for £30m.

City enjoyed the best season in the club's history in 2022/23, becoming only the second English club to win the league, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season.

Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said in a recent interview that City "won't stand still" as they look to emulate last season's achievements, and adding Rice to an already world-class squad would only back up that claim.

Man City 2022/23 ratings

Labour dispute

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UAE v Gibraltar

What: International friendly

When: 7pm kick off

Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City

Admission: Free

Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page

UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”