105 million For Rice – Can’t Do Much More by Dan Smith
As I write this, it’s being suggested that Arsenal have submitted a third bid for Declan Rice, this time OVER a 100 million.
Who knows by the time you read this, maybe West Ham would have accepted our offer?
We will now see if David Sullivan is a man of his word.
He’s always maintained he has a gentlemen’s agreement with his captain that he won’t stand in his way if the asking price is met.
Surely 105 million is that value?
It could be wishful thinking, but such is the jump from out rejected proposal of 90 million that I’m hoping this figure was quoted by the Hammers and Edu has decided to stop haggling and get the deal done?
It’s always been suggested that the Iron’s, while frustrated with the length of our instalment plans, have negotiated with us wanting to reach a compromise to get their skipper what he wants.
The 24-year-olds criteria has always been to play in the Champions League while living in London.
We will now see if his employers encourage a bidding war between us and Man City, or sanction the transfer now that their asking price has been met?
This is where the DM can help by reiterating his preference is North London.
I have been very critical of our transfer policy for years.
I don’t understand why our business is constantly leaked out.
Where our rivals seem to confirm purchases days after links appear, we get drawn out in sagas that go on for weeks.
We have missed out on big names in the past due to being indecisive.
It would be an embarrassment for Arsenal to miss out on their number one target simply because we have been wooing him since January, with the midfielder believed to have been sold on our project.
If the player wants to join you and his club are willing to sell, that’s quite a hard transaction to get wrong.
Edu has known for months a rough idea of how costly this would be and chose not to walk away.
He’s perhaps acted arrogantly with the belief that we were the only potential buyer.
If this had been the offer the day the window opened, then maybe Man City wouldn’t be a factor?
So, our Sporting Director isn’t beyond reproach if we miss out on our manger’s first choice.
However, the fact remains that the Gunners have offered 105 million for the player.
They may have taken their time and dawdled?
They may have a mole inside the club who gives out information.
They may be obsessed by paying in repayment plans.
The fact is we are willing to pay more for Rice than any other player in our history.
We are willing to pay more for him then any club has ever paid for an English talent.
If West Ham say that’s still not enough or the Champions want to pay more, I don’t think we can be angry with Arsenal?
You see, I don’t need my team to lift the Prem.
All I ever want is them to be the best version of themselves.
For too long I have watched the standards drop at the club I love, to the point 5th was called progress.
I see Arsenal be scared to take that next step and show little ambition.
In the meantime, tickets and merchandise prices increase.
I will always give the club credit when they are trying to better themselves.
105 million for Rice?
They can’t do much more than this.
Dan
100m for rice. Is anyone else thinking wtf are we doing. Don’t get me wrong he is a very good player. But man 100m for a dude in the last year of his contract …..
Arsenal amaze me in so many ways. So far I am far from impressed. 100m rice and 65m on Kai Haverates WTF.
Only our link to the Ajax defender seems sensible.
Wonder if we are getting rid of Thomas partey due to the allegations etc. Something doesn’t quite add up and I don’t mean the 100m being demanded by West ham
He has a one year extension which Wetspam can use, so its two years.
Football is a murky business. Arsenal sometimes can’t get deals over the line, because of third party payment and weird (corrupt) ownership structures. If we can’t get Rice for 100 million, I’d rather we got 2 x 50 mil players. I mean if we don’t win the league or Rice gets injured, what was the point.
He’s better then what we got and essentially he’s got two years left on contract
Could be our leader for the next 10 years
Once again Dan, a good article that, nevertheless, sees you wanting to have a dig at our management team – why?
It’s Edu’s job to “negotiate” a deal, otherwise you or I could roll up to West Ham and sign on the dotted line the contract they want for Rice.
It doesn’t matter if Rice wants to play for us, stay in London, play in the CL – it’s what The Arsenal want and how much they’re prepared to pay.
It seems that WHU are STILL not happy with the structuring of the offer, so should Edu now roll over and accept every demand they make?
Let’s not forget, Rice knows exactly what is happening and I wonder what he feels about it and how he would react if The Arsenal say enough is enough?
I believe we ARE acting like a “big club” by negotiating, not cowtowing to them and, let’s not forget, Josh Kronkie decided to get involved in the transfer in order to make it happen – if it doesn’t, who do you blame then?
100%
Spot on Ken. We all need to factor into our thinking that DAN is automatically programmed to have a dig at our management team in each and every single one of his pieces .
It lets him down, as he is certainly bright, knowledgeable and gets a lot right.
But biased personal agendas are not attractive, hence my saying DAN LETS HIMSELF DOWN.
even i am also amazed with what i am seeing in arsenal lately, winning a trophy is not the only thing that brings about proactiveness in a club. Arsenal my dear club is changing the path to a positive one that we the fans so much desire. Kudos to Arteta , Edu and patriotics fans for this. But i want to say that is this declan Rice worth 105million? I hope he does perform, if eventually the deal materialized, because of the future effects. Thanks
Don’t forget the Kroenke’s too. They are absolutely bank rolling us..
Good Point. All the Kreonke’s teams have won or close to winning championships in the past 5 years. the intent is there.
Apparently the sticking point is that West Ham want more money up front and over 2 years, rather than the term of the contract because of THEIR issues with FFP – they are one of the clubs that are being “monitored”. So it would be hoped that this would work in our favour – more money now but lower asking price? Seemingly not. WHU have the higher price (although short of their drug induced demand of £120m) and now they want the structure too. Cake and eat it??
Also very puzzled by Man City stance….. why bid the same as us only to walk away after one offer? I smell a rat somewhere- perhaps WHU asked City to bid to get us to move higher?
Who knows….. but barring accidents and football being “a funny old game” it looks like Arteta gets his man.
Think you may have already mentioned the reasons City walked away.
1. Bidding war advantageous to West Ham and no clear fee ( seen 100 million, 120 and 150 mentioned by Moines)
2. Also want the total fee over 18 months to 2 years.
Personally market value of 70 million, West Ham want at least 100 million or more in a bidding war, then demanding that money over that short span?
WALK AWAY like City did.
If they want 100 million or more, then it’s spread out over 3 or 4 years. Otherwise lower the fee to get all the money up front.
But to want your overpriced cake and eat it too? It’s not prime Messi or Ronaldo here, no big game experience.
City avoided getting mugged while Edu and Arteta cheerfully keep pulling out more money looking desperate to buy.
Don’t be surprised if they turn down 105 million bid, knowing they can probably milk us for millions more because we keep coming back rather than being firm.
Go back in January and bid 75 million with 18 months on his contract. Next Summer bid 50 million with 12 months left. Just please stop acting this desperate as if signing Rice with half our budget will guarantee a single trophy, title, or anything.
I think Man City were interested if they could get him for the price they thought right. However, maybe it was just a ploy as Pep had already decided that Mateo Kovacic for £35 million was a better buy than Rice. Either way he has not done us any favours as all it did was up the price. I would like us to walk away, wait, and see what arrives as no other club will pay WH asking price.
So many moronic commentators here. It is clear that Arsenal did its homework. The strategy for rebuilding the club is clear and so far superbly well executed. Where they are now compared to three years ago is astonishing, especially with a very green manager.
We will see if it works, but the management team and owners are to be commended. Chelsea would love to be where Arsenal is today.
Keep doing what you are doing and stick with the strategy. Pay no attention to the moaners who never have anything good to say
Iwasthere, some fans are unaware that a selling club can sell the outstanding total deal agreed, once it is all signed and legally watrertight, to a bank, who will then advance the whole monet WHU wanted, but UP FRONT!.
But WHU would need to pay a fee to the bank for them doing so. I think the £5 mill in excess of the £100 mil we offered, was to enable WHU to do exactly that with the Arsenal signed contract they receive for Rices sale.
A fee of 7%- 9% would be the norm a bank would expect. Hope that helps you and others to see the reality of big money finance and how it works,
105m from Arsenal for Rice? I warned myself that the Arsenal-WHU frolicking is not hallucination; that DR is destined to be a Gunner.
I don’t mind Arsenal spending big money but £105m for an average player is a joke because he’s English.
Love that we are being ambitious but Rice isn’t anywhere near the price being asked. Not even half.
Same thing I said last Summer that Jesus and Zink aren’t great players, good players that brought a strong mentality from being in winning squads.
We have nobody that has come in apart from Øde that has made us stand up and take notice. Vieria is another example of why did we spend £35m on him
“We have nobody that has come in apart from Øde that has made US stand up and take notice”
Kindly speak for yourself:
These players got the entire EPL world “standing up” and noticing how good they were in fact these “duds” are the second most valuable team after City(transfer market,2023)
We do get criticism for whatever we do, spending or not spending. Arsenal has ambitions, but they haven’t many options in the crazy EPL money race.
Damned if we do, damned if we don’t…
Criticised for not bidding enough, criticised for offering too much. The issue is that the EPL and English international player transfers is a hugely overpriced market. You either pay it or win nothing.
We still may fail in this bid as WHU want the full payment within 18 months (which we can’t afford).
To correct a couple of points:
Why assume Arsenal are leaking info? It’s normal for a selling club to leak in order to encourage other bids. This is definitely coming from West Ham, as it was with Shakhtar to suck Chelsea in.
Why assume we knew what we would have to pay months ago? Actually not true – Arsenal were led to believe by West Ham back in January (before known they would stay up and before they won the Conf League) that the price would be c£80m.
As usual, Dan contradicts himself:
“You see, I don’t need my team to lift the Prem.
All I ever want is them to be the best version of themselves. For too long I have watched the standards drop at the club I love, to the point 5th was called progress.”
So what if 5th IS currently the best version of Arsenal, Dan? It always seems that you DO need us to win the EPL, remembering the brickbats you throw at management (and fans) if we don’t. So please stop pretending that anything other than winning everything will ever be acceptible to you!
guy Please scroll up to my reply to Iwasthere, to see the reality of how big finance works, IN PRACTISE!
I’m assuming this article was written before City pulled out?
Whilst I cannot criticise Arsenal for their earlier negotiating stance, (as no buyer ever goes in and pays what the seller says they want), I think we have had our pants taken down by going from £90 million to £105 million. Having said that, Sullivan originally wanted £120+ million not £100 million as has been mentioned. Anyway, it’s done now and all we can hope is that now City have backed off we can pay this huge fee spread over a number of years.
I think Chelsea may end up with a better buy at less money if hey secure Caicedo.
MY opinion is we should have signed him instead and saved 20 mil towards another player.
I also Caicedo more honestly but I’m not unhappy about Rice either, the money doesn’t bother me
I see no difference between this and the 72 M paid for Pepe.. At least 30M too much in both cases.. Alot of Artetas reputation and future at AFC will rest on the successs of this signing..I have no confidence in it..
Yes, I wish and hope Rice will liveup to the very high money price of £105m that Arsenal are paying to his West ham club side to sign him this summer. But not have a low key or average season performance for Arsenal next season. But a very high and excellent performance for them. Which in conjunction with the rest of his team mates in the squad will lead to Arsenal winning the quadruple next season unfailingly WELCOME to Arsenal Declan Rice. And I wish you the very best of things at Arsenal. And my very very big big kudos go to the Kroenkes for their support to Arteta, Edu, his entourage and the Arsenal Board members for their relentless hard work that is seeing Rice transferring to Arsenal this Summer. More specially to the Kroenkes for making available the necessary funds that facilitated Rice joining Arsenal. More grease to their elbows.
Look peeps 105 mil was always the figure, Rice was always Arsenals No1, Arsenal was always Rices No1. Arteta wanted has Rice from last year, he is his No1. The fee is not our problem, we have a top midfielder, that is all that matters. For the first time that i can remember, we have actually blown teams away to get our No1. Our opinions should not matter wether we personally rate or not rate Rice. We acted like a club who wanted someone badly. That should please EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!
That amount is staggering.
£105million for Rice? Are you kidding me?
Really don’t know what to think at this point.
But one thing is certain; if after Rice is signed for this amount and Arsenal is not winning the league next season, then Arteta will be roasted.
Still can’t believe we’re ready to pay this amount for a player not worth more than say £65-75million imo.
Next season will no doubt be interesting to see. I pray we’re all alive beyond.
With all due respect Twinlights, your and my opinion (and everyone elses) matters very little. Lets hope Rice becomes an Arsenal legend.
Agree Reggie
Now, that’s a big one to pin our hopes on.
I hope and pray rice and harvetz doesn’t become another Maguire and pepe because I know many fans here can wait to say I told u so. With the transfer done we should now have the team to compete with city and if xhaka and partey stays there shouldn’t be any excuse on the squad depth
Some Arsenal fans are suffering from amnesia, fans used to complain the owners doesn’t want to invest or doesn’t spend on big players now they complaining when out club, is showing the mentality of a big club. I am happy about this signing they will start taking Arsenal serious now long have we cried about being able to compete in the transfer market
👍
Have you heard about smart spending? Most especially when you have to address multiple areas in your squad in the same season?
Well, let’s see how many players we are able to sign at this rate and how we are able to balance our books with player sales. (Don’t forget FFP).
As for the signing of Rice, I personally feel he’s not worth that amount (talking about his quality). But for English tax and what have you…. here we are.
So should we ‘know our place’ and leave the big spending to the Saudis, Sheikh Mansoor, and Boehly? I’m personally delighted we are not shopping in the bargain basement for the next Henry or Pires.
Are you some kind of spinner? No one is complaining that AFC is investing. They just do not think that Rice is worth 105M.. There is something that I long suspected about many AFC fans. They aren’t too preoccupied by the players that are bought, they just want AFC to spend big.. Wenger realized that too, and would make one big buy every window and buy no one else
I think it’s a much better deal than 70 million for Pepe
Is Declan worth that much? Probably not but for a special player you need to be able to pay more than he is worth.
I’m not saying that you do that for all transfers but just maybe 1 or 2 a season
After splashing 105M on plain Rice, just wondering what else we can afford from the menu. Two chicken wings for 50p? A small spud for a quid? A morsel of cod?
A pint of lager would be ideal to wash it down, but a glass of water is looking more likely.
My mates ordered a full combo instead – everything included – with enough left over for a cab (uber).
We could be walking home in the rain with the fear of indigestion, even diarrhea too, from overconsumption of Rice.
I was listening to Talksport last night and was staggered to hear a number of Arsenal supporters, (so they claimed), who thought we shouldn’t be spending that much money on any player, with some saying he wasn’t worth the money. It’s nice to know we have such fans with a small club mentality. As ex-chairman Peter Hill-Wood said when we bought Bergy, “either you compete or you don’t”. I was staggered when I heard the size of our third offer, as I was expecting just a modest increase on our second one. I told friends that this bid came two weeks too late, as City would doubtless top it, but as it happens, they didn’t want a bidding war. David Sullivan said it would take a British record bid to secure Declan’s services, so we were effectively calling his bluff. So well done Edu and Arteta (and grudgingly Kroenke) for showing that Arsenal really do mean business next season,
There are many who do not feel Rice is no worth £100m and that Arsenal should not be paying so much for a MF. Suggesting that this reflects a “small club” mentality is silly and reflects an unnecessary arrogance amongst some fans.
Medical tomorrow!!!!!!!
Enzo Fernandez was bought by Chelsea for £106.8million to be paid across 8yrs. Note dis player hasn’t made a name before his move from benfica to Chelsea.
He was signed up after his world cup display.
But Declan Rice fee is bothering everyone gunner out there saying Rice is too overhype and too cost, this is same Rice who have proved himself both in a westham utd shirt or England shirt one of the most consistent DM in the last 4yrs if I can remember.
Declan to me clearly deserve the fee I hate comparisons but when you have Enzo Fernandez and Declan Rice in the same transfer window who would you sign.
Declan Rice for sure .
Mind my English I’m not British
Actually he handled this pretty well. I think Arsenal’s team is very impressive. I like the fact that they have in mind a set price and they walk away if it gets too expensive. All very impressive from Edu, Arteta and the Kroenkes.