Manchester United may have failed to gain a real advantage on Chelsea in the summer transfer race for Declan Rice amid the Red Devils' decision not to allow Jesse Lingard his dream West Ham transfer.
Chelsea are set to ramp up their chase of Rice at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, football.london understands, but it will not be an easy deal to complete.
"While those moves won't happen today bar a miracle, they are names that indicate Chelsea could be in for a busy summer," football.london Chelsea writer Scott Trotter said in his deadline day Q&A.
"Kounde and Rice in particularly will solve problems that won't be resolved by the summer, but won't come cheap."
However, both Manchester United and Manchester City are also thought to be very interested in signing the 23-year-old and whatever fee is paid for him, it's sure to be a hefty one.
The Red Devils however have missed a key opportunity to gain a substantial advantage over Thomas Tuchel's side heading into the second transfer window of 2022.
Lingard, 29, has been hoping for a January move away from Old Trafford since the start of the new year but despite early optimism for a Newcastle move, any loan deal looked to be off the table heading into the final 24 hours of the transfer window.
Then came West Ham's interest, and despite initial talks in the dying embers of deadline day, the Toon have leapfrogged David Moyes' side in the race due to the collapse of the Hugo Ekitike deal.
This update has now been confirmed by football.london's West Ham writer Tom Clarke and transfer guru Fabrizio Romano.
The former tweeted: "Hugo Ekitike to Newcastle is now off. Newcastle now pushing harder for Jesse Lingard as a result."
Romano then added more clarification: "After Hugo Ekitike deal collapsed, Newcastle are pushing on Jesse Lingard for final hours of the Deadline Day. West Ham still interested too.
"It’s up to Manchester United to decide - the player wants to leave right now."
If Lingard does indeed end up in Tyneside instead of east London by the 11pm deadline tonight, which is the more likely outcome according to Sky Sports, then Ralf Rangnick's side may have missed the boat when it comes to trying to establish a good rapport with Rice's current club ahead of the summer window.
This view has been echoed by the Manchester Evening News' United correspondent Samuel Luckhurst who alluded to the Rice/Lingard conundrum on his social media.
His tweet on the situation read: "An issue for mufc to consider with Lingard and West Ham is whether they take the risk of letting him rejoin a top four rival to potentially bank goodwill regarding any future approach for Declan Rice?
"United haven't signed a senior pro from West Ham since Paul Ince in 1989."
Chelsea fans would obviously prefer United's number 14 to join Newcastle instead of having a second stint at West Ham for the reasons mentioned above, but even if the worst scenario came to fruition, Blues supporters will point to Rice's boyhood connection to the club and his blossoming friendship with Mason Mount as the main reason as to why he would snub Man Utd for a return to the blue side of the capital.
Thankfully, none of this may matter for Chelsea who look to be holding onto their Rice advantage due to the what the Man United board have decided in the 11th hour of deadline day.
As per the Athletic, the 29-year-old has been told that he is going to be staying in Manchester meaning the Blues will benefit in many ways as they new hold the firm advantage as they look to attain West Ham's number 41 in the summer.
