Some Manchester City fans have been urging Jack Grealish to help the club bring West Ham United and England midfield enforcer Declan Rice to the Etihad Stadium.
The City supporters issued their pleas after Grealish took to social media to hail his England team-mate after scoring in West Ham’s 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening.
The Hammers made the perfect start to their first European campaign since the 2006/07 campaign, securing an impressive away win thanks to goals either side of half time from Michail Antonio and Rice.
Rice, who scored for England in the 4-0 win over Hungary during the recent international break, netted a superb solo goal, picking the ball up inside his own half, motoring forward, beating two Zagreb defenders for pace and then buried a low, left-footed drive into the back of the net.
It was an excellent goal from the West Ham skipper and one that you would not usually associate with a player of his mould. Nevertheless, it was one that was worthy of celebrating and gained a strong reaction from those watching at home on TV, including City ace Grealish.
But Grealish had a slightly unusual way of congratulating his international team-mate on his first European goal, insisting that his international team-mate should have a higher pace rating than what he has been have given to him in the soon-to-come FIFA 22 game. Rice has been given 66 pace in the game and Grealish, based on Rice’s goal against Zagreb, believes it should be higher.
Grealish, quote tweeting a video of Rice’s goal, said: I told you @_DeclanRice you should be higher than 66 pace on @EASPORTSFIFA.”
Grealish’s interaction with the Hammers midfielder soon attracted attention from City supporters, who decided to send messages to the £100million signing, saying that was working as an agent in an attempt to bring Rice to the Etihad Stadium.
Below, MEN Sport has taken a close look at what some City supporters had to say on Twitter.
As you can see from the messages displayed above, there is certainly a sense of hopefulness amongst the City supporters that Rice could be added to the squad in the future.
Manchester United have identified him as a top target for next summer’s transfer window and are poised to try and lead the battle to secure his signature.
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