Matthijs de Ligt sets two demands to complete move to Manchester United, Treble hero wants Solskjaer to sign £90m centre-back and more Manchester United Transfer News: May 29, 2019

By Deepungsu Pandit

Modified May 31, 2019 10:49 GMT

Matthijs de Ligt continues to be linked to United

#3 United midfield target not keen on move

Declan Rice wants to stay at West Ham United

The Express reports that United target Declan Rice is all set to snub a move to Old Trafford this summer due to his relationship with West Ham United fans. The 20-year-old has been one of the rising stars of the Premier League in the 2018-19 season and was stellar in the defensive midfield postion for West Ham. His performances were so impressive that he broke into Gareth Southgate's England squad for the UEFA Nations League. He had also impressed Solskjaer, who wants to sign him this summer.

However, all that looks tough now as the Englishman spoke about his connection with the Hammers fans.

"I know that there's speculation but during the season last year I just signed a new five year contract with West Ham. So my focus is fully on playing for West Ham.

"I've got a great connection with the fans; the fans love me and I love them and that's the way it is at the moment. I'm not thinking about anything else, for sure.

"It's been crazy. For me to have thought that I'd be playing as a regular for West Ham in the Premier League at 19 or 20 is something that sometimes you've got to pinch yourself on."

He then went on to speak about his desire to play in the Champions League.

"You want to play in the Champions League. If you were in football and you didn't want to do that there'd be no point playing."

Unfortunately for United, they do not have Champions League football next season to entice the young man to make the move. Even though nothing is final yet, a deal right now looks highly unlikely.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written over 8500 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Samya Majumdar