(Football news) Declan Rice is the top priority for Mikel Arteta, and Arsenal has already had two offers for him rejected. Ilkay Gündogan, who completed his transfer to Barcelona on Monday, is being replaced by the England midfielder, and City has issued West Ham a formal offer of £80 million plus an additional £10 million. It would be interesting to see how West Ham reacts to City’s offer because they have been holding out for at least £100 million for Rice.
The original two offers from Arsenal were not well received by the London Stadium. The second offer from Arsenal was for £75 million plus a further £15 million, but they intended to stretch the initial portion of the sum over five years. West Ham requests that the guaranteed part be split up into smaller payments.
The perception up until this point has been that Rice prefers to sign with Arsenal. According to insiders, the 24-year-old does not want to leave London and he admires Arteta’s football. Arsenal is preparing a third offer, and it’s likely that they will have to match West Ham’s asking price in order to compete with City’s. Once add-ons were considered, it was anticipated that they would ultimately spend more than £100 million. Rice and Arsenal will have no trouble coming to personal terms.
Declan Rice’s willingness to stay in London will undoubtedly be put to the test by the opportunity to play for Pep Guardiola. Rice would join City, the team that Guardiola has guided to a treble, as the dominant power in European football. He would be aware that joining City would advance his knowledge of how to play in the middle of the pitch.
Pep Guardiola met with Rice towards the end of the previous campaign, and sources last night indicated that City, who are also attempting to recruit RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol, would find a way to close the deal. Although they already had Rodri and Kalvin Phillips and were expected to improve their midfield by signing Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea for £25 million plus £5 million in add-ons, losing Gündogan to Barca was not in the original game plan. City also ran the possibility of Bernardo Silva signing a lucrative agreement to move to Saudi Arabia.
The goals Guardiola has for Rice are intriguing. For West Ham, Rice has typically played as a defensive midfielder and has frequently had to rein in his offensive prowess. Would he replace Gündogan in a like-for-like manner? People who are familiar with Rice think that if he played for a more dominant team, he would be much more effective in the final third.
Arsenal would suffer a severe setback if they failed to secure Rice. They have been the front-runners to acquire him since the year’s end and have been organising his signature ever since. Arsenal, who anticipates completing the £65 million acquisition of Kai Havertz from Chelsea on Tuesday, will not want to lose the crown to City again.
Also read: FC Barcelona confirmed signing Champions League-winning captain İlkay Gündoğan
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