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As West Ham rebuff our first bid Arsenal now face two challenges in their pursuit of Declan Rice

Arsenal face two big challenges in Rice deal

Arsenal’s pursuit of West Ham captain Declan Rice has hit a stumbling block as the Gunners’ club-record proposal has been rejected by the Hammers.

After weeks of speculation, the Gunners finally formalized their interest in the 24-year-old midfielder, but West Ham have made it clear that they will only let him leave if their valuation is met.

The Hammers are reportedly seeking a fee in between a whopping £100 million and £120 million for Rice, who has one year remaining on his contract with the option for an additional 12 months. Arsenal’s initial bid is believed to be around £90 million including add-ons, but the structure of the offer has been met with disappointment from sources close to the deal.

While Arsenal are expected to come back with an improved proposal, they may face competition from Manchester City, who are considering a move for Rice as the future of their captain Ilkay Gundogan remains uncertain.

The German, who is out of contract at the end of June, is also on Arsenal’s radar, but he has attracted interest from Barcelona and clubs in Saudi Arabia for a potential free transfer.

Arsenal now face a decision on whether to increase their offer to match West Ham’s valuation, or risk missing out on a player who has become a key target for Mikel Arteta’s summer plans.

Personal terms are not expected to be an issue, and there is a belief within the North London club’s hierarchy that the Englishman would prefer to join them instead of somebody else.

As the situation unfolds, West Ham are keen to see what Manchester City is prepared to offer, potentially opening the door for a bidding war that Arsenal would prefer to avoid.

With Rice currently with the England squad for Euro 2024 qualifiers, the transfer saga is set to continue with Arsenal needing to act swiftly if they want to secure the services of the highly-rated midfielder…..

Yash Bisht

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30 Comments

  1. I believe Arsenal have walked away from that deal and have turned their attention to Joao the DMC for fulham, valued at £40 million and rated the best DMC in the premiership.

  2. I hope this time Arsenal will not be passed over as in the Mudyrik case. If you don’t want to engage in a bidding war don’t attempt to go for a high quality player. Did Arsenal expect to be the only suitors for Declan Rice? It would be the most demoralising thing if we lost our on Rice again. It would be an indictment on the management of the Club. Their main mistake is to publicise their interest in a player when they are not ready to secure him at any cost. We were lucky in the Mudyrik case because he has not been the instant success people thought he would be. However the case of Rice is completely different. This is a ready made article whose value is well proven. Thus losing out on him would be simply unforgivable. My appeal is for the Arsenal management to go all out and get him at the second asking. If they continue haggling over the price others may raise their offer. Strike the iron when it is hot.

    1. So what you are saying is we should just pay them whatever they ask us to pay without negotiating ? Where in the world has that ever been a good idea.
      The way the arsenal management is going about it is what is best for the club and best all round. We should not be strong armed into paying far more than true value. Caicedo, nevez, and other players who are solid and relatively cheaper are available .

    3. Unfortunately, any deal for Rice now will be “high profile” because his price is extortionate and City are sniffing around. There’s no way he’s going to Arsenal now and probably never was..

    4. DAVID I SEE IT RATHER DIFFERENTLY. I believe the reason why we have, reportedly already bid£80mill with£10 mill add ons, is to deter any other club from being able to snap him up at less money.
      This means that any other club which wants him – given that it is also widely known his preference is to come to us, a key factor in our favour too – would need to offer significantly more than we have.

      I suggest the likelihood of THAT happening is very LOW indeed and our club knows that very well.
      THEREFORE,by already offering probably as much as we are ever going too, give or take perhaps an odd million or two but NOT substantially more than we have done already, we protect ourselves from acceptable rival bids.
      Further to this, West Hams ready rejectionof our widely known bid will also further deter rivals from bidding. Our club and all clubs will be aware of this situation and NOW, a game of poker betwen us and WHU commences. My opinion is that in time ,possibly some weeks hence, but hopefuly not too long, WHU will realise their bluff has been called. They cannot afford to keep himand then lose vast value in a years time, so will, IMO have to play ball with some club this summer.
      IMO, THAT CLUB LOOKS INCREASINGLY LIKELY TO BE US, THE LONGER THIS GAME OF POKER LASTS.
      Clearly our club DOES want him, BUT not at all costs. IF WE FAIL TO LAND HIM REASONABLY SOON, WE WILL MOVE TO OTHER TARGETS . Both clubs know this very well and so the game of poker continues in the short term.
      The only possible HUGE FINANCIAL LOSERS in this bluff game , MIGHT be WHU.
      If they fail to sell him soon and at a decent price, they will lose huge amounts of moneyon him either next Jan or next summer (a year from now.)

      IMO that will NOT be allowed to happen . THE ABOVE EXPLANATION is a detailed reason why I see it very differently from you.

    5. So we should pay £100 million or more for an okay player just because you want us to show that we are big boys this time?

    6. Declan Rice case is a totally different one than Mudryk, the Englishman is by far a smarter player who understands well the game at hand.

      This senior player will get his wish anything else will not look too good on his part, but Arsenal is not in the market for a weak player at some stage not too long Moyes will be told enough is enough.

  3. Arsenal will have to bid 110 m and test west ham. As always arsenals transfers are boring and uninspiring..

  4. Sorry he is not worth half that fee, I can’t believe we would bid that kind of money on any player.

    If we are bidding I hope the club are just driving up his price and distracting others from our real target.

    He has done nothing at Westham or for England to be anywhere near these figures.

  5. I would rather we had pursued Caicedo (as I think 120+ million for Rice is excessive), but there are various reports now stating we have ended our interest in him. With the likely transfer of Partey away from Arsenal, someone like Rice is needed but with City apparently showing interest it could be another drawn out scenario.

  6. If we miss out on both targets then the fan base must come together and protest big time. KSE are too comfortable when it comes to Arsenal and Kronke did say he didn’t buy Arsenal to win trophies and the recent indications back this up are . We see how is celebrate the Denver Nuggets win but has utter disregard when it comes to Arsenal. The fan base n=must stand up!!! As for Havertz whose but would this be? It cant be Arteta cause we have seen that Havertz hasn’ cut it in the league so far so why would we give Chelski 60M for a non performer? It just doesn’t make sense.

  8. To be honest, before Rice was even talked about in connection with Arsenal, I would never have thought of him as Arsenal material. There ate many more players I would have focused on as ideal and affordable. If West Ham want a bidding war we should walk away now instead of losing out to Manure, City or any other rich club. Arsenal FC are simply out of the running when it comes to high profile players because we won’t and should not be mugged into paying way more than a players worth. I’m glad Chelsea got Mudryk for silly money. What did he bring to the table? Rice may be a good addition, but he’s not worth £100m or even close to it!

  9. Arsenal should hold their ground £90.mill is an awful lot of a pisspot load of money for a player who’s not a game changer.

    Arm with the knowledge that the lad wants to come across London, a bid of the above mentioned may well in favor with the player, shows we are interested and Moyes too has to be practical, and trys to find some common ground.

    We should move our attention to the Caicedo kid, while Moyes haggled over the £90 mill

  11. When the first thing you do in the transfer window is look to buy another Chelsea reject (flop) that could cost between 60- 70m pounds , don’t expect any favors from West ham for their captain., Delcan Rice. What are the priority needs of the team? How dare you guys offer Havertz 250,000 pounds weekly, but, wanted to pay Saliba only 120,000 pounds weekly. What about strengthening the midfield first with 2 quality players (Rice and Zubimendi), then add a quality right full back (Simakan),a center back (Tapsoba) and an attacking midfielder that scores goals and provides assist like Dominik Szoboszlai,with champions league and International experience, instead of
    focusing on giving Chelsea 60m pounds for Havertz (3years of flopping in the premier league),to buy a player we need (Caicedo). That’s very hard to comprehend. I am not convinced. Arsenal must get serious, ruthless, ambitious and forward thinking to emulate Manchester city. It would a very big disappointment to revert back to mediocrity, instead of progressing further with the addition of quality squad depth.

  12. In terms of physique, athleticism and technique Onana of Everton is of a similar profile to Rice and amid their current financial woes I suspect the Blues would find it difficult to turn aside an offer of around 50m for a player who I think cost them 35m.The fact that West Ham are asking 100m for Rice is I feel unrealistic , and while he is a fine player with excellent attitude and character he does not have the ball skills nor the creativity of Thomas Partey for example.

    1. West Ham certainly know we’ve offered somewhere around £50m for Havertz along with £200k p/w. They won’t do us any favours for Rice

  13. For me, Arsenal should just decide on the maximum they are willing to pay for Rice and make a take-it-or-leave-it offer. If that doesn’t work, they should move on.
    Look, a whole lot of opportunities will present themselves during the long transfer window. Nobody should hold us to ransom please.

  14. If Arteta and Edu decide not to buy Caicedo I think am ok with it because this is how everyone here was clamouring for bisouma before he went to totham

  15. Newcastle are reportedly chasing a £50m deal for Inter’s Barella. Why can’t we hijack that instead of spending twice that amount on Rice?
    Barella may not have the physical presence of Rice, but he is a mobile ball carrier with an eye for a pass. In my opinion he’d fit the Arsenal style perfectly.
    He may not be home grown, but we are already well stocked in that respect especially with the prospect that both Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson will be staying

  16. This does not seem like it will go anywhere again.
    Reminds me of the Raphinha, Lisandro Martinez, Mudryk and Caicedo sagas.

    We are told how much a club is willing to accept but we continue to bargain and never reach the evaluation then another club comes in and snaps the player up.

    We knkw our limits and why do we waste our time on players we are never going to get due to their massive evaluations?

  17. Edu and arteta have already shown that they ain’t getting forced into a bidding war or vastly overpaying for a player. They have a limit on how much they are willing to pay and we should walk away if West Ham don’t budge from their ridiculous 120m price tag. Our 1st bid of 80m+10 add on is already more than enough for a player who isn’t gonna drastically change our odds of winning the league or CL. Hell we are already overpaying at this stage because our that stupid English tax.

    Also our backup target haven’t been bad at all.

  18. Does anyone know where Chelsea are getting their money from to be “top runners” for Caicedo? I thought they were desperately trying to sell, so UEFA didn’t come after them ….

    2. You need to understand FFP and how it works. Chelsea have bought all their players on the nevernever and they will have to sell to balance the books. Its on a two year cycle, not one, so they have time to sort or pay the price.

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