Simon Jordan labelled the timing of Eni Aluko’s bizarre Declan Rice theory as ‘fortuitous’ on Thursday as the pair clashed over her claims that Manchester City only bid for the West Ham midfielder to help Arsenal seal his signature.
Aluko, 36, suggested the Etihad chiefs were never really interested in the England star and that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta had asked his friend, City manager Pep Guardiola, to put a bid in to push his owners to offer more money.
Rice looks destined to join the Gunners for a £105m fee ahead of next season, with Manchester City pulling out of the race following their £25m capture of Chelsea star Mateo Kovacic.
Despite being slammed by fans on social media, Aluko doubled down on Thursday by insisting she was right, while hitting out at the ‘sexist, racist and misogynistic’ abuse she received after her comments.
The ex-England star, who chalked up over 100 international caps during her playing days, urged this form of ‘communication’ was something she used to do while working as a sporting director – having worked as director of women’s football for Aston Villa and sporting director of Los Angeles-based Angel City FC.
Simon Jordan and Eni Aluko clashed over her bizarre Declan Rice transfer theory on Thursday
Aluko was heavily criticised on social media after claiming that Manchester City only bid for Rice, above, to help Premier League rivals Arsenal in their pursuit of the England international
Jordan was keen to flout the theory as Aluko returned to talkSPORT on Thursday afternoon, insisting her claims ‘make no sense’.
‘With respect, what you’re saying is that they’ve put a phone call into a rival. Or they’ve manufactured a situation with a rival to create an outcome,’ Jordan told Aluko on the show.
As she began to respond by claiming it was a matter of ‘communication’ rather than ‘manipulation’, Jordan continued: ‘You’re getting a rival to bid for something that they don’t really want to engineer a commercial outcome for you. That’s precisely what it is, Eni.
‘I didn’t see that happen in any transfer deals I did, and I was close in many transfer deals, and when you’re throwing £250,000 at a player with all due respect, there’s a lot less focus than if you’re spending £90million.
‘People will be very focused on it. Owner, chief executive – they’ll all want to understand. The two biggest commodities in football are gossip and finances, and with that comes a lot of invested interest.
‘What you’ve said is that a situation has manifested itself where Man City engineered a bid to produce an outcome for Arsenal to get the player they want. That’s manipulation, by its very definition.’
Mikel Arteta (left) and Pep Guardiola (right) have a close relationship after working together at the Etihad – but the two head coaches are still competitive rivals in the Premier League
Aluko posted a video on Twitter slamming the ‘racist, sexist’ abuse she’s received from ‘haters’
Aluko, drawing upon her own experiences in football, replied: ‘Ultimately, what I’m talking about is communication.
‘I had communication with clubs about the level they were going to bid anyway on these players and that helped me then go back and say “right now we need to decide what we’re going to do”. So those clubs were going to bid anyway…’
Jordan interrupts, saying: ‘But that makes no sense, Eni, in the commercial reality of the hard world. If you’re a competitor, the last thing I’m going to do is give you any indication of what I’m prepared to do to get a deal done.’
Aluko continued: ‘That’s not my experience. In my experience, I communicated with my rivals. In men’s football that might be very different, but with hundreds of millions of pounds being spent, I think it’s naïve to think clubs don’t communicate.’
Jordan was keen to identify the difference between men’s and women’s football, insisting that the ‘scale’ of her dealings with Aston Villa were considerably smaller than Rice’s high-profile move away from the London Stadium.
Midfielder Mateo Kovacic has completed his move from Chelsea to Manchester City this week
‘Your level is at a far lower level of economics,’ he claimed. ‘I think they weren’t prepared to get into a bidding war.
‘Ultimately, if Man City’s valuation was £90million and not a penny more, and they heard that West Ham were going to reject that bid, then they’re going to walk away from the table. I think you’re a little fortuitous with your timing.
‘Look at the observations people make about punditry, credible observations, anyone can throw out stuff people react to, but you need to have substance behind what you say.
‘Your experiences may be substantive, but I do not think they relate to the men’s game. Not a man-woman thing. It’s a scale thing. Big clubs do not like doing bids with one another. It makes no sense.’
