Manchester City reportedly pulls out of the race to sign Declan Rice, Arsenal favorites to get Rice on a record transfer fee.
According to reports, Manchester City pull out of the race to sign Rice as they cannot match Arsenal’s £105 million bid. After West Ham reportedly rejecting their first two bids, Arsenal made a third bid for Rice worth £100 million plus £5million in add ons on Wednesday. Arsenal will break their transfer record and will make Rice their most expensive signing in the club’s history. Rice is Arsenal’s main target for the summer transfer window and reportedly the player’s preferred destination is Arsenal.
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However, the West Ham captain has naturally attracted interest from many top European clubs. Earlier this week, it was reported that European champions Manchester City offered £80 million along with £10million in add-ons for the England midfielder. However according to Italian journalist, Fabrizio Romano, Pep Guardiola’s side have now backed out of the race as they cannot match Arsenal’s third offer. Arsenal are spending heavily in the coming summer window as they want to build a competitive squad and will look to fight for titles again next season and they could easily make space for Rice as Granit Xhaka will most probably join Bayer Leverkusen and Thomas Partey will reportedly sign for Juventus.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the deal is “very close” to completion. There is just one condition which Arsenal must meet before West Ham agree to the transfer of Rice. The Hammers want the guaranteed £100m fee to be paid within 18 months, different to the original offer which stated that £100m fee will be paid in four years. If this is something that Arsenal can agree to, the deal looks very likely to happen.
Rice is the perfect player to play as a midfielder under Mikel Arteta. Rice is a versatile midfielder and is likely to play in the midfield pivot along with Jorginho. It’s been no secret that Declan Rice has been the transfer priority for the Gunners. Arsenal were interested in many other midfielders like Moises Caicedo, Ilkay Gundogan and Ruben Neves, but they were never close to joining. Declan Rice will be a guarantee starter for Arsenal. Not only is he the player for the present and future, he will definitely make Arsenal a better team with his technical abilities and leadership skills.
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