Arsenal make record-breaking £105m offer for Declan Rice

Big major transfer news and we understand Arsenal is Declan Rice's preferred destination despite that interest earlier this week from Manchester City. Yes that news comes after Arsenal have made a third bid of £105m to the West Ham captain and talks will continue today over the structure of the deal. Rice has been Arsenal's primary target this summer and the third bid comes just a day after Manchester City's £90m bid was rejected. Arsenal's bid is a guaranteed £100m with a further £5m in add-ons. Sky Sports News has been told that West Ham view £105m as an acceptable figure but that they want the guaranteed fee paid up in a shorter time frame. Well if the offer is accepted Rice would become the second most expensive English player of all time behind Jude Bellingham who of course moved to Real Madrid this summer for £115m. It would also become the second biggest transfer fee ever paid by an English club only beaten by Chelsea's pursuit of Enzo Fernandes in January. It would become the third deal of £100m or more by an English club. The £105m offer smashes Arsenal's current transfer record of £72m which they paid for Nicolas Pepe that was in 2019 and is around double what they spent on Lacazette two years earlier. So it appears Arsenal are getting closer to having an offer accepted by West Ham and it remains to be seen whether Manchester City will match their bid. We said Rice's preferred destination at this stage is Arsenal but who do you think he should join if he has the choice? Whether defending treble winners or the team aiming to try and knock them off their perch? If you've got a thought on this let us know using the hashtag GMSF.