Exclusive Ben Jacobs column: Deep dive into how Arsenal beat Chelsea to Declan Rice transfer & more
Arsenal have their number one summer target in Declan Rice. For many months the now former West Ham captain only wanted Arsenal.
In fact, even if Manchester City had matched the £105m package, Rice still would have picked Arsenal. That’s partly why City pulled out. Their only real hope was to trump Arsenal’s package, but instead it was the Gunners who bid big. This played right into West Ham’s hands, who wanted a bidding war.
Back in January, Arsenal actually felt like £70-75m might be possible, especially with West Ham fighting relegation at the time. Arsenal have paid far more in the end, but they view the huge fee as an investment not an expense. They also didn’t want a repeat of the Mykhaylo Mudryk saga and to risk being outbid. I do think when they placed the £105m offer that was at the back of their mind.
Arsenal knew Rice spoke glowingly of Mikel Arteta and ideally wanted to stay in London so that helped their cause. But Chelsea were in the mix as well up until January.
Graham Potter wanted Rice yet Chelsea moved for Enzo Fernandez instead. Rice was originally open to returning to Chelsea but just not sold by the pitch. And he always feared Potter wouldn’t be the manager he would end up playing under, and was ultimately proven right.
Arteta was extremely hands on in the pitch presenting Rice with a lengthy presentation. This included how he would improve Rice’s attacking numbers even further. Rice was told he could get into double figures at Arsenal in terms
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