Rice focused on Europa as Bayern pursuit intensifies

Declan Rice has spoken with Bayern Munich head coach Thomas Tuchel as the Bundesliga champions step up their pursuit of the West Ham and England midfielder, according to Sky in Germany.

Rice remains at the top of their wanted list as they look to add a central midfielder to their squad.

They are now looking to step up their pursuit of the 24-year-old over fears that they could lose out to Premier League rivals including Arsenal.

Their plans have not changed despite changes to their backroom staff over the weekend, with the departure of chief executive Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic.

Rice has maintained that he is not focused on any “noise and speculation” and that his mind is solely on next week’s Europa Conference League final.

West Ham take on Fiorentina in next week’s final in Prague, with the Hammers needing a win to secure a Europa League spot next season.

“I’ve not really focused on any of that, to be honest,” said Rice when asked about a summer move.

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“My main focus this season, from the World Cup onwards, has been getting us out of a relegation battle and, of course, having one eye on winning this trophy.

“Everything else is just noise and speculation. Obviously, I can’t help that, it comes with playing. But my main focus is playing for West Ham and winning this final. My heart’s set on that, doing it for the club, for my family, for the fans and that’s my only focus. I want to make them all very happy and my focus is on doing that.”

“Bayern is keen on him. They need a strong defensive midfielder but everybody knows there are a lot of other clubs interested in him.”Bayern could afford it. They would like to keep it below €100m [£86.4m].

“They have to look at their accounts very closely but I think they can afford it.”