ARSENAL have finally made a breakthrough in the summer transfer window, having reached an agreement with fellow Premier League outfit, West Ham United for the acquisition of Declan Rice.
The England midfielder looks set to move to North London after the Gunners finally saw their bid accepted by the Hammers – after having two bids already rejected by David Moyes’ side. Reigning champions Manchester City also saw their approach rejected as the Hammers held out for a £100million fee.
Mikel Arteta’s first two bids failed to meet the hefty fee, but they have finally agreed to do a deal at a club-record sum of £105m, including £5m in add-ons.
The North Londoners found themselves in pole position in the race for Rice on Wednesday morning when Manchester City formally withdrew from the bidding process.
West Ham have just communicated to Arsenal that they’re accepting £100m plus £5m add-ons fee for Declan Rice.
The two clubs remain in talks over deal structure and payment terms — as West Ham wants £100m to be paid within 18 months.
Only the payment terms need ironing out, in terms of the structure of the deal for when West Ham will receive instalments. But this is believed to be close to being sorted and won’t affect the transfer happening.
Rice has made no secret about his desire to play Champions League football, and speaking ahead of the World Cup he said: “I’ve been playing consistently well for my club and I feel like I really want to keep pushing.
“I see my friends here who are playing Champions League and for big trophies. You only get one career and at the end, you want to look back at what you’ve won and the biggest games you’ve played in.”
West Ham’s chairman David Sullivan confirmed Rice would leave after their success in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
He revealed: “I think it has to be. We promised him he could go. He set his heart on going. You can’t ask for a man who has committed more to us this season.
“It’s not something we want to happen. We offered him £ 200,000 a week 18 months ago. He turned it down. It’s cost him £ 10 million to stay at West Ham in that time (in lost wages). And he wants to go. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.”
Eighteen-Eleven Media