Arsenal has agreed on a payment structure with West Ham for the signing of captain Declan Rice. Arsenal, it is believed, will pay the initial £100 million over two years. This week, Rice will get a medical before signing a long-term deal. The deal will set a new club record for Arsenal (Nicolas Pepe from Lille for £72 million in 2019) and be the most expensive transfer between two British teams.
The transaction will also fall just short of Chelsea’s $106.8 million payment for midfielder Enzo Fernandez in January of this year, which set a British transfer record. Rice, who progressed from a member of the junior squad to club captain, will finish a ten-year stay with West Ham. Since making his first-team debut for the Hammers in 2017, he has made 245 appearances, and in his farewell match for the club, he helped West Ham win its first trophy in 47 years by winning the Europa Conference League final.
If Arsenal needed any more persuasion to make a Declan Rice acquisition, they received it just after the half-hour mark of their April 2-2 draw with West Ham at the London Stadium. The team of Mikel Arteta appeared to be cruising to a victory that would have put them six points ahead of Manchester City with a lead of two goals. But everything changed when a player they now wish to sign as a record did some quick thinking. When Rice noticed Kieran Tierney preparing to pass to Thomas Partey deep inside the Arsenal half, he started running after the Ghanaian midfielder to shut him down and arrive just in time to seize the ball.
Said Benrahma converted the ensuing penalty, which changed the game’s momentum away from Arsenal. maybe even that of the championship race. And Rice was the catalyst. Many of the traits that made Rice so desirable to Arsenal were on display during that section of play: the foresight to recognize the chance; the speed and power to get there and emerge with the ball; the calmness to set up his teammate and force the penalty.
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