Arsena target Declan Rice sent warning over Man City move by Tony Cascarino

Declan Rice has been warned of the potential pitfalls of a move to Manchester City by Tony Cascarino.

The West Ham captain has been the subject of two failed bids already from Arsenal who have earmarked the 24-year-old as their No.1 summer target.

Having failed to agree a fee with their east London rivals, the Gunners are now set to face the ominous threat of Pep Guardiola’s treble winners officially entering the race to sign the all-action midfielder.

Rice is still said to favour a move to north London where he would be an automatic starter and is reported to hold several reservations over aswitch to City.

And Cascarino believes Rice is right to treat City’s interest with a measure of caution given the problems encountered by Kalvin Phillips who hardly featured last season following his move from Leeds United.

Cascarino told The Times: City are the obvious destination in terms of the likelihood of winning trophies but Guardiola’s reluctance to field two holding midfielders is a problem. I don’t see Rice dislodging Rodri easily because the Spaniard is arguably the best in the world in that position.

‘It’s quite possible that Guardiola will tell Rice that he sees him as a centre back who occasionally plays in midfield — after all, the City manager has fielded players in all sorts of unlikely positions.

‘Rice has dismissed the idea of playing at the back, but he shouldn’t. He reminds me of my old Ireland team-mate Paul McGrath, who was brilliant in defence or midfield.

‘Last season, Arsenal’s title challenge faltered after they lost the centre back, William Saliba, to injury. Had Rice been at Arsenal I’m sure he would have been able to drop back into that position effectively and Mikel Arteta’s team would have gone much closer to winning the Premier League.

‘Rice would go straight into the Arsenal line-up and could easily become captain within a couple of years. He will have been impressed by their huge progress last season, and by how many of their players improved so much, notably his England colleague Bukayo Saka.

‘Arsenal’s ambition this summer is very exciting and the acquisition of Rice would be a marquee signing that would advance them considerably.’

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