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.
Arsenal proposed to pay the initial fee over four years and the add-ons, if successfully met, over five years.
That falls some way short of West Ham’s £120m valuation though the east London club are open to sell for less if a player is included in the deal.
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 east London side.
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.
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.
Arsenal are in talks with Ajax over the signing of defender Jurrien Timber.
Discussions have been described as “very positive” and there appears to be a willingness from all parties to get a deal done.
Timber has two years left on his contract and is valued at around €50m (£42.8m).
Reports suggest one bid has already been rejected but Arsenal are working internally on a valuation and payment structure.
Timber is a player the Gunners looked at in January and they have been monitoring his progress over the past season as they look to increase competition in defensive positions.
The club are continuing to work on deals for West Ham captain Rice and Chelsea forward Kai Havertz.
It is understood there is encouragement all three players want to join.
Source: Sky News
