So, the dreaded offer from Man City for Arsenal’s top transfer target Declan Rice has finally arrived, with Pep Guardiola’s side equalling our best offer so far.
The Arsenal transfer guru David Ornstein was first to reveal details of the deal when he tweeted….
so, now the ante has been upped and it is now Arsenal’s turn to stick or twist, or even better out-trump Guardiola!
These are terrible analogies, but it is definitely now going to turn into a game of poker and we will be watching to see who blinks first….
Of course this morning, we were guaranteed to get an update from Fabrizio Romano, and sure enough he has just tweeted this good news for the Gunners…..
West Ham have rejected Man City’s first official bid for Declan Rice worth £80m plus £10m add ons. 🚨🔵 #MCFC
Arsenal will bid again, their third official proposal is expected soon after two bids rejected, last one was £75m plus £15m. ⚪️🔴 #AFC
West Ham want £100m fee. pic.twitter.com/CWTggCdBUI
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 27, 2023
So, boys and girls, it is time for us to get the popcorn out and watch the game from the stands. Are we all still hopeful that Declan Rice will a Gunner next season?
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What a time, we are battling city on d field and on transfer. And some people say this guy is nt that good, why is city in for him. Who say are not levelling up
He is not worth 70m pounds. Man City can bid any amount they so desire.
We have to be responsible as a club. We have other areas to strengthen. If we don’t sign him, I won’t lose sleep. Westham are just greedy. There are other options
Typically biased comment from a GOONER who has neither the intellect nor any intention to even try to see it from WHU ‘s point of view. Knowing people throughout the football world rate Rice immensely- Guardiola, Arteta, Southgate- all hugely respected PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL FOLK.
Yet you blithely and without any true thought, write him of as you do.
I think you are an unthinking person.
Wanting your club to act responsibly by not getting into a bidding war with a club that has limitless finances.
That is not unthinking or a lack of intellect.
But of course West Ham are being greedy and why not?
What they fail to understand is that every club they approach for new players will know they are loaded for cash – so the player that would cost £25 million ordinarily will now cost West Ham £45 million.
Personally I think £100 million for Rice is absolutely ridiculous. Its obscene.
Patrick Vieira cost us £3.5 million in 1996, With inflation that is now £6.7 million.
Is Rice 15 times better than Vieira?
He is not half of the player that Vieira was.
I think Arsenal have to be sensible but I am also aware that it is the nature of the way football has become.
I am sure Arteta knows exactly what he is doing…
Couldn’t agree more.. This is a highly advertised player worth as you correctly put it about 70M. The media storm and WH playing hardball is having its desired effect though.
You would swear its Messi 2.0
They may just be ruining it for their closest competitor. They can afford to.
AND SO IT SEEMS THAT WEST HAM HAVE GOT THEIR WISH IN A BIDDING WAR. I don’t even know what to expect any longer.
As much I would like to express skepticism on this whole Rice saga, am one nervous wreck.
I thought our third bid had already been turned down?
It also seems that city have received the assurances they were after about the player wanting to join them before they put in a bid.
Not good news at all – but at least those who doubted DR ‘s pedigree will see that Pep regards him in the same way as Mikel.
Yea Ken I read city would not put a bid in if the player had no desire to go there ,seems like an an awful lot of time and effort as been put it on this ,both teams know what West Ham want ,bid that and see where he wants to go simple really .
I think the problem is that we want to pay it over 4years where as city can do it over 2 .
We’ve had two bids rejected and now city have had their first bid rejected. The amounts mentioned, both what have been offered and what WH want are borderline ridiculous and it’s now reported we are considering a third bid. It won’t happen but I’d laugh if us and city told WH collectively to ‘go forth and multiply’.
Was thinking the same. I will laugh for 24 hours straight if both clubs walk away from the deal.
No way should Arsenal go anywhere near the 100 million figure. I dont think he is that good. Keep Partey and spend wisely.
Clearly good enough for City though!
As a backup player. KDB and Rodri are 2 of the best midfielders at what they do. Rice is a very good player, but not on their level, not even close.
Rice would have to beat out Stones, which isn’t easy based on his performances.
Grealish went and did time on the bench, maybe Rice will as well.
Hope we walk away if 90 million isn’t enough, we can get 2 good midfielders for that price, no need to pay the English Tax for Rice.
Rice must have some non-flashy stats that made him very attractive to Arsenal, Man City and Man United, apart from his homegrown status, work rate, EPL experience, CB skills and stature
Maybe his forward passes, interception, duel won, injury record and positioning were as good as Xhaka’s. I think Loftus-Check has better ball control and more physically-imposing than White, but his price tag is much lower
Arsenal know the score, they know what is required. Rice wants Arsenal. They know how much we have to pay. Fly in the ointment is Haverz and not getting any bidders for our players yet.
We thought we could get haverz for 45 and rice for 80.
Now that there’s a bidding war, West Ham may not stop at £100million, they may want £120 or even £140million, which is insane for one player!
I also feel West Ham prefer DR to move to Man City rather than remain in London.
At this juncture, I suggest Arsenal look for viable alternatives to DR. We have other problem areas that need strengthening as well.
Who says there is a bidding war, apart from you? The phrase” bidding war” is a hyped and unintelligent phrase used by downmarket media and red top newsapapers and is patently not the case.
Both ourselves and City will bid exctly what than they deem he is worth to them. And no more!
Sky Sports https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12907924/hes-arsenals-number-one-target-bidding-war-for-declan-rice-continues
OPTUS https://sport.optus.com.au/news/premier-league/os59249/declan-rice-bidding-war-arsenal-man-city-harry-kane
CBS https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/declan-rice-transfer-arsenal-and-manchester-city-launch-bidding-war-for-west-hams-star-midfielder/
Standard https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/declan-rice-arsenal-transfer-news-west-ham-man-city-b1090391.html
Independent https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/manchester-city-making-formal-move-for-declan-rice-as-arsenal-face-100m-bidding-war/a1825301617.html
Just saying……
PAT the problem we all have when incorrectly used words and phrases become common – “hate ” instead of “not rating” being one prime example – is that they become incorrecty used by so many lesser thinking and lesser educated folk.
An example is to attach the suffix” gate” onto any scandal, which goes right back to WATERGATE, but a gate has nothing to do with any public scandal.
I coukd write very much more on this subject and, IF I thought JA had enough educated users and people whose first language was English and who wished it used correctly, then I would gladly write a piece about it.
But as you allow ONLY Arsenal articles, I WOULD BE WASTING MY TIME.
Suffice to say that while I LIVE I will keep fighting the good fight to have English correctly used, mostly because that way we can have sensibly written and fully nuanced debate, without the weary and juvenile POLARISATION into “black and while” that JA has allowed to fester and harm your site. Sigh!
Here’s a possible article title. Just Arsenal descends into grammar-gate in middle of bidding war!
Now you know why i always write the titles lol….
You gotta keep a sense of humour and “go placidly amidst the noise and haste”
So you do “comedy” too PAT! Well, Well!!
When will we see you doing stand up at the Comedy Store.
Not anytime soon, if your post is any example of what you regard as “humour”.
If you had real any real sharpness, you would take ny post seriously and try to adopt it on JA, instead of making fun, in schoolboy fashion.
Typical online troll. when presented with facts and evidence they start correcting grammar..
I suggest that you need to increase the dosage, because it is clearly not working.
What’s your point Pat? 😊😊😊
Oh dear 🫣
Thanks Admin Pat for the clarification.
I SAY LETS USE TAVAREZ IN THE
XHAKA ROLE He has got all the
attributes to be a box to box
midfielder. Plus he is left footed
also. Will save the club a £100m wrt
all this Caicedo & Rice extraordinary & extortionary demands.
ALWAYS FORWARD!! (but keep your
options open).
Not a bad shout!!!!!!
Havertz will be replacing Xhaka.
Have a feeling he’ll continue to play higher up the pitch to be honest
No! No! No!
And furthermore
No!
But why not Ben White playing the role that John Stone currently fills for Man City?
He has a great passing range, is a great tackler and comfortable on the ball.
MA knows much more than I do so best let him make those decisions…
Haverz playing there is a big NO from me, especially for the wonga we have to pay.
If rice is the no.1 priority and we can afford it then just offer a full and final amount with a time limit and see what that brings. If not we need to walk away this week and focus on alternatives. I’ve been looking at the financial fair play and our last two years of accounts. We are getting close as we’ve posted losses of around £150m in the past two accounting years. I can’t see how we have the money available the press seem to think we have.
The Athletic has a very detailed report on Arsenal’s earnings and why they could easily afford all their transfer targets. unlike City, Westham, Chelsea, and others who are in the red FFP-wise
City? Haha you must be joking 😃
No he isn’t!!!!!!!!!
Partey is a really top player when he’s fit and on form but he’s not reliable for a whole season and he plays when he’s less than 100 percent and that cost us dearly last season.
Rice is built really well and he’s got a great engine perfect for the midfield battle and can slot back into the defensive line when Zinny goes roaming he’ll be a great bit of protection sat in front of CBs. I hope we get him despite him being overpriced. I want us to have one of the best home-grown contingents around ] Saka White Ramsdale Rice [ is a great start along with ] Balogun and S Rowe [ to hopefully prove themselves this season or if not then they can help us by bringing in some cash
The game of poker continues except now we’re going to have to raise the stakes. I’ll bet it’s all smiles at WHU.
I agree that if, as reported, Man City have made a bid Rice has agreed to join them subject to terms. It looks like it’s going to get to the £100m mark and add-ons personal terms, and future installments will decide it. If it doesn’t work for us I hope we have a Plan B, we’ve spent a lot of time and effort on this one player.
Not necessarily.
That’s the whole point of debate, we are all entitled to an opinion. I just do not believe that City would waste time bidding for a player who doesn’t want to join the club, unless they have another agenda perhaps? All will be revealed soon.