Arsenal has submitted a third bid for West Ham’s Declan Rice worth £105m, which, if accepted, would make him the most expensive British player ever. The record was previously held by Gareth Bale, who left Tottenham for Real Madrid for £85m in 2013 until Jude Bellingham moved to the Bernabeu from Borussia Dortmund for an initial £88.5m earlier this month.
Declan Rice hugging Arsenal Coach, Mikel Arteta. Source: Getty The race for Rice has dramatically intensified, with Arsenal’s third offer (£100 million plus £5 million in add-ons) comfortably exceeding their previous two bids this summer. The Gunners have already had two offers turned down for Rice, while Manchester City have had one rejected. City’s offer of a £90m package, with £10m of it paid in add-ons, was rebuffed by West Ham on Tuesday morning. Rice has indicated a preference to move to Arsenal this summer, where he would be a key part of Mikel Arteta’s project. The chance to play for Pep Guardiola’s Treble winners will be attractive, though, and City are in the market for new midfielders after captain Ilkay Gundogan joined Barcelona for free.
West Ham United’s Declan Rice celebrates scoring his side’s first goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Leeds United at London Stadium. Source: Getty Rice joined West Ham’s academy from Chelsea as a teenager and has been ever-present since his breakthrough season in 2017-18. He took over the captaincy after Mark Noble’s retirement last year. The 24-year-old played 50 games in all competitions last season as West Ham finished 14th in the Premier League, before winning the Europa Conference League in Prague. Rice has played more than 200 games for West Ham and also earned 41 caps for England since his international debut in 2019.
