Declan Rice was made West Ham captain last summer; Arsenal signed Jorginho in January but Mikel Arteta remains keen to strengthen his midfield; Man City and Man Utd are also interested in the midfielder; this would be a club-record fee if accepted, surpassing £72m for Nicolas Pepe
Arsenal have had their second bid for Declan Rice worth £90m rejected by West Ham.
The fee, which would have been a club record for Arsenal, was understood to be £75m guaranteed plus £15m in add-ons, surpassing the £72m paid to Lille for Nicolas Pepe in 2019.
That falls some way short of West Ham’s £120m valuation, though the club are open to sell for less if a player is included in the deal.
Negotiations continue between the two clubs for Rice, and one source has told Sky Sports News Arsenal remain hopeful of a positive resolution.
The Gunners had initially offered £80m plus add-ons – which would have been paid in slow instalments with a lot of tough contingencies attached to it.
Manchester City and Manchester United are also interested in the 24-year-old.
Rice, who replaced Mark Noble as the Hammers’ skipper before the start of this season, has spent his entire professional career with the club.
The Gunners made bids for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo in the January transfer window and ultimately ended up signing Jorginho from London rivals Chelsea.
But Mikel Arteta, who mostly relied on Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard as his midfielders last season, remains keen to strengthen in that area of the field.
West Ham keen on Bristol City’s Scott
West Ham are interested in Bristol City midfielder Alex Scott and are deciding whether to formally approach the Championship club.
The 19-year-old has two years left on his contract. West Ham remain interested in Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha.
The Portugal international has four years left on his contract and Fulham have confirmed he does not have a release clause.
Fulham are not encouraging offers.
Where would Rice fit in at Arsenal?
Sky Sports’ Nick Wright:
If Arsenal needed any further convincing over the merits of a move for Declan Rice, they got it just after the half-hour mark during their 2-2 draw with West Ham at the London Stadium in April.
Mikel Arteta’s side were two goals up and seemingly cruising towards a victory which would have sent them six points clear of Manchester City. But it all changed with a moment of quick-thinking from a player they now hope to make their record signing.
Rice, seeing Kieran Tierney about aim a pass towards Thomas Partey deep in the Arsenal half, set off on a sprint to close the Ghanaian down, reaching him just in time to steal possession, then carrying the ball into the box and finding the onrushing Lucas Paqueta.
The subsequent penalty, won by Paqueta and scored by Said Benrahma, shifted the momentum of the game away from Arsenal. Perhaps even that of the title race too. And it started with Rice.
It was not the first time he had rushed to pressurise Partey in the game. “Rice is just trying to show him he’s going to go after him,” said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher on co-commentary. He might soon be going after his place in the Arsenal team too. READ MORE
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