Declan Rice's move to Arsenal has taken another step closer to completion as the Gunners have finally reached an agreement with West Ham over the deal's payment structure.
Once finalised the transfer, worth £100million plus £5m in add-ons, will become Arsenal's record-signing by some distance and see Rice become British football's most expensive player of all time. However, at one stage it seemed as if the England international's future lay not at the Emirates, but at the Etihad.
Reigning champions Manchester City were also very interested in landing Rice's signature and tabled a bid of their own, thought to have been worth £90m. It was swiftly rejected by the Hammers, but for a brief while Arsenal were made to sweat over their chances of securing the midfielder.
With that being said, ex-Arsenal ace Ray Parlour feels that the Gunners always had the upper hand in the race for Rice purely for geographical reasons.
"I think that certain players consider their family life too," he told Mirror Football via JBI Training." Declan Rice is obviously very settled in London and wanted to stay in London. Arsenal is the best club for him to join in the capital in terms of challenging for trophies.
"We all know how good Manchester City are and what they achieved last year was magnificent. Moving forward, hopefully, Arsenal, if they can get Declan Rice, that can give them a big push towards winning a trophy next year.
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"Arsenal will be aiming to go one better and win the Premier League title next season, while they will also want to do well in the Champions League."
The Gunners went to great lengths to sign Rice and ended up bidding three times for the 24-year-old before they finally got the green light from West Ham.
However, there was then a hold-up over how Arsenal were planning to pay the transfer fee. The agreed structure will see the Gunners pay the £100m fixed fee in three instalments across two years.
It is believed that is a compromise on what West Ham were initially demanding, which was the £100m figure paid out in just two instalments. That demand was another reason Arsenal fans feared City could pip them to the post, as they boast the ability to fork out that fee in just two instalments.
Thankfully for all those over at the Emirates, City's decision to walk away from the deal once it reached the £100m mark meant it was a straight shoot-out between Arsenal and West Ham.
Rice's desire to leave the London Stadium in pursuit of Champions League football and more trophies meant he was also always going to push for the move to Arsenal, only helping the Gunners' cause further.
