{"id":1313998,"date":"2023-06-29T13:00:37","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T12:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1313998"},"modified":"2023-06-29T13:06:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T12:06:11","slug":"declan-rice-transfer-latest-arsenal-man-city","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/declan-rice-transfer-latest-arsenal-man-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Declan Rice transfer latest: Six things we know about Arsenal, Man City transfer race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Declan Rice appears to be on his way out of West Ham<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 a notion confirmed by the club’s chairman, David Sullivan.<\/b><\/p>\n

“He set his heart on going and in due course he has to get on and we have to get a replacement,” Sullivan told talkSPORT<\/em> a day after West Ham won the Europa Conference League.<\/p>\n

“We offered him \u00a3200,000 a week 18 months ago and he turned it down. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.”<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a beautiful romance between Rice and the club who identified his talents as a teenager in 2014 after he was tossed on the scrap heap by Chelsea. In the proceeding nine years, Rice has gone on to make 245 appearances for the club, inherit the armband off Mark Noble and captain the club to European glory.<\/p>\n

But, as the saying goes, ‘all good things (must) come to an end’, and an amicable divorce seems almost a foregone conclusion this summer. Where will he end up? Clubs have been frantically circling, most prominently Arsenal and Man City \u2014 and here is where we’re at now.<\/p>\n

Who is interested in Declan Rice?<\/h2>\n

Interest from north London has been quite pronounced for a while. Reports started to emerge at the start of the year between the two parties, and prominent names have come out and thrown their weight behind the idea — some even suggesting the deal has been wrapped up for some time.<\/p>\n

In April, Ray Parlour said on David Seaman’s podcast, Seaman Says<\/em>: “He’ll be at Arsenal next year! He’s definitely going to be at Arsenal next year.”<\/p>\n

In January, Arsenal icon Emmanuel Petit was heard on beIN Sports<\/em> saying: “Declan, if you’re listening, my message is very simple: if you want to improve and win silverware you have to come to Arsenal.”<\/p>\n\n

The Gunners<\/em> remain the frontrunners for his signature, and you can see why Mikel Arteta would be interested in the player. At 24, he is already a club captain, with those leadership qualities paramount to galvanising his dressing room with the expected departure of Granit Xhaka.<\/p>\n

As well as being a ball destroyer, and one of the best on the planet at reading the game, with his interceptions and blocks two major components of his game, he is a supreme athlete and technician.<\/p>\n

His close control, driving runs and attacking threat often go under the radar at West Ham, where he is mainly tasked with defending first and foremost, a product of David Moyes’ counter-attacking set-up. When he surges with the ball and gets into tight attacking areas, though, he is utterly ruthless.<\/p>\n

It may sound a tad outlandish, but his goals against Dinamo Zagreb last season, and Gent this, where he picked the ball up in his own half and stormed the pitch before tucking home, may explain why West Ham first-team coach Kevin Nolan recently likened<\/a> him to Steven Gerrard…<\/p>\n

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? It had to be Declan Rice… ?#UECLGOTW<\/a> | @Heineken<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/JqAlPRBVzE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) April 21, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n