It’s already been one of the sagas of the close season and Declan Rice’s move from West Ham to Arsenal still hasn’t taken place.
The Gunners are known to want to sign the player and, equally, it’s understood that he too would like a move across London to a club that are clearly on the up.
West Ham appear resigned to losing their captain, but at least he’s able to say that he quit whilst he was at the top of his game with the Hammers, raising the Europa Conference League trophy aloft being his final act assuming the transfer goes on to complete successfully.
There are other clubs ready to muscle in on any deal, and the north Londoners will surely be wary of how Chelsea came in at the 11th hour and beat them to the signature of Mykhailo Mudryk.
Transfer expert, Fabrizio Romano, writing exclusively in his CaughtOffside Substack, has given an update on why Mikel Arteta is so keen to sign the 24-year-old from Arsenal’s London rivals.
‘Declan Rice wants to continue in the Premier League, staying in London is his preference and he has made it clear that he prefers a move to Arsenal. Bayern Munich are prepared to attack the situation but everything depends on the player and not them,’ he wrote.
‘Man City are also informed on the situation, but at this moment, Arsenal remain ahead of Bayern and every other club in the race to sign the West Ham captain.
‘Rice is Arsenal’s priority right now. The club have believed that he is a perfect signing for them as far back as January and they know that they can’t miss out on this deal. Mikel Arteta feels that some leadership is needed in Rice’s position, and the player has shown his capabilities in this regard during his time with the Hammers.’
Clearly, West Ham are not going to be rolled over on this one. Though it seems that they can accept Rice wants to move on, he does still have two years remaining on his current contract.
That puts the east Londoners in a healthy position as far as negotiations are concerned, and if they stand their ground in terms of transfer fee, the ball is very much in Arsenal’s court.
‘David Sullivan has accepted that the club will lose Rice this summer, the player is keen on the move and personal terms are not a problem, but the £80m offer that Arsenal have already made was never going to be accepted by West Ham,’ Romano added.
The Transfer of Rice is taking too long and we are concerned that our Coach is very slow in making the transfer concluded.
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Exactly. Typical Arsenal. They are wasting time instead of adding as little as 10m to get this deal done swiftly. Two things are likely to happen if they don’t act fast – a repeat of the Mudryk transfer may happen, the player gets tired of waiting and joins the next suitable offer; second is an increase in current valuation of the player, and Arsenal ends up paying much more if they agree to buy.