Arsenal look to be edging closer to completing a club-record deal to sign West Ham United captain Declan Rice.
Mikel Arteta's side submitted a bid worth an initial £100million, plus an additional £5million in add-ons, for the England international on Tuesday night, football.london understands. Manchester City then decided to pull out of the race to sign Rice after previously seeing a £90million bid turned down by the east Londoners.
The Gunners' offer proposed the guaranteed portion of the fee be paid over the course of four years whilst the Hammers would ideally prefer the money be paid in two instalments by the start of 2025 instead. Still, this issue has been described as minor and both clubs are now working towards reaching an agreement rather than continuing to haggle over the price.
But if a deal is eventually sanctioned, Rice may not be able to don his preferred No.41 shirt number for Arsenal if Alex Iwobi's previous comments are to be believed. Iwobi wore the number 45 during his formative years with the Gunners but he was eventually asked to change to a 'senior number' instead, settling for 17 in the end.
Speaking about the switch on an Instagram live back in 2020, via the Liverpool Echo, the Nigerian international said: "I actually loved Big 45 when I came into the scene in the first place, it was a youth team number at Arsenal but they told me to change to a senior number, so the next available that was 17.
"Ever since then, it’s been that number and you’ve got to love it." Rice will be hoping that the Gunners can make an exception for him, detailing why he likes to wear 41 last year.
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When asked about the number during an episode of The Overlap, Rice told Gary Neville: "It was just a number I was given in the academy by the kitman, Jamo. When you're in the U23s, you've obviously got the first-team squad numbers and then it starts to get to the higher numbers when you're in the U23s.
"I remember when I went to Seattle on my first trip with the first team, I just got given 41 and you know what, it's stayed with me since. To be honest with you, I've been having this conversation with my Dad, regardless of what happens in my career, I think I might stay with the 41.
"'Rice 41' has a nice ring to it and I've grown up playing in it. I'm a bit superstitious with things like that - I don't know whether if I change to a new number, it would hamper my performances. I don't know. I just think sometimes about a couple of things like that."
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