Manchester City will not be matching Arsenal's £105m bid for Declan Rice, according to Manchester Evening News.
The Gunners saw two offers for the England international rejected by West Ham, the first of which was worth £75million, with an additional £15million in add-ons. City then officially entered the race on Monday night with a bid of their own, which was also turned down by the Hammers.
On Tuesday evening, the north London outfit upped the stakes, submitting a club record bid worth £100million plus an additional £5million in add-ons, football.london understands. That offer is said to have resulted in City pulling out of the race for the 24-year-old, a major boost to Mikel Arteta and Arsenal as they try to secure their number one target.
West Ham and Arsenal plan to enter more negotiations today as they look to reach an agreement over the structure of the move with the length of the payment of the fixed £100m fee the remaining issue, football.london understands. When Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was asked about his side's pursuit of Rice, he refused to get drawn into talking about the tough-tackling midfielder specifically
“I can't talk about players who are not in the club. I prefer not to say anything", Arteta told Spanish outlet Marca when asked about Rice.
READ MORE: Arsenal news and transfers LIVE: £105m Declan Rice bid, Havertz confirmation, Romeo Lavia offer
In recent years, Rice has established himself as one of the most consistent holding midfielders in the Premier League. The Hammers skipper topped the English top-flight charts when it comes to interceptions, registering 63, as per fbref.
He also recovered the ball more times than any other player in the English top-flight with 334.
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