Manchester City pull out of race to sign Declan Rice

Let's get to the big breaking news in the last half an hour then. Manchester City have pulled out of the race to sign West Ham midfielder Declan Rice after refusing to match Arsenal's £105 million bid. As you can see our reporter Mark McAdam is here with us for more on this. Huge developments this morning, it's only a couple of days since City made that off, so what's changed? Why have they pulled out? Things swing back and forth very quickly in the transfer window particularly when you're Declan Rice and of course he's been coveting the attention of two of the best teams in the Premier League last season. We know it's been going back and forth day by day over the course of the last seven or ten days with regards to the pursuit of the West Ham captain. We know that Arsenal have put in a series of offers that have been rejected. Manchester City joined the table late with their offer that was also rejected and late last night we had that third offer from Arsenal which totaled a package of £105 million. As of yet West Ham haven't responded, however what's happened in the last hour or so is that Manchester City have decided that he is not the player for them and there is clearly a different valuation. They will not be trying to match or better Arsenal's third and latest offer, so therefore Manchester City have pulled out of the race to sign Declan Rice which will come as music to the ears of Arsenal fans. We know that Mikel Arteta and Edu have made him their number one target during this summer transfer window. He was a player that was interesting Manchester City but they have decided that the money is not working for them and they have pulled out of the race. West Ham did state they wanted more so will this be enough to get their man? West Ham said at the beginning of the window that they wanted a fee of around £120 million for Declan Rice. Now how that was made up was obviously open to negotiation. Now West Ham really have the ball in their court now because they've had two teams that are both desperate to try and sign Declan Rice and they've been able to almost play them off in an auction style process which is what's essentially happened over the last few days. Now that one of the big players has pulled out of the race that leaves Arsenal as the only team really that are operating in the financial parameters that West Ham want to be operating in. So they've got a little bit of a difficult situation West Ham. Now do they decide to reject that third offer thinking that Arsenal may come back in for a fourth one or do they say we believe this is the most amount of money that we're going to get for Declan Rice therefore we will accept this third proposal. They of course can still negotiate with Arsenal but Arsenal may have just felt like their hand has been strengthened by Manchester City no longer being at the table because Arsenal would turn around to West Ham and say well okay sell Declan Rice to someone else and they'll look around the room and there's no one else there now. I think one of the other things that's significant about Manchester City's pursuit of Declan is that they have always historically never paid more than they feel is the value of a player. You saw it when they were pursuing Harry Maguire. He eventually went to Manchester United. The fees that were being quoted, the fee that Manchester United paid in the end wasn't something that Manchester City were comfortable with. The same with Marco Correa who went to Chelsea from Brighton. They were interested in him again but the fees they weren't happy. So what you're seeing despite Manchester City's power when it comes to spending money and the perception that they spend whatever they want to get the players they want, once again they're walking away from this deal. So it's fascinating to see how it will play out but I certainly feel like Arsenal, Edu and Mikel Arteta who know that Declan Rice wants to join them will be sat back thinking our third and final offer could be the one that gets the man we want. Yeah there was also talk of United maybe coming in maybe with because West Ham were happy with a sum plus players so Scott McTominay was one of those who was hinted could go down there. You don't see that emerging at this late stage. Well the thing about this particular deal is we are at a very advanced stage now. There's been negotiations that have been going on between Arsenal, West Ham and Manchester City for some time and we believe that Arsenal's third offer is getting very close to what West Ham have been asking for and what they want. David Sullivan said at the end of the season after the Europa Conference League he felt like Declan Rice had played his final game for the football club and what a way to bow out after what has been an incredible few seasons with the way they played in the Premier League and of course the success they had in Europe. So you always got the feeling that this would be happening this summer. It's escalated very quickly. As we say Arsenal have always been at the table for Declan. He was their number one transfer target during this summer's window. We know that Declan Rice always had the desire to go and play for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal stay in London and he saw that project as something that excited him. The fact that he could also feel that Arsenal were desperate for him. He felt like they really wanted him. He was their main man. He was someone that was going to be integral to that team next season and that gave him the right vibe and the right feeling that that was the best option for him and it feels now that it's just all coming towards the end that I think will satisfy everyone. So that fits in with Declan Rice thinking as well because there was this gentleman's agreement that he could leave this summer. So what will he be thinking now? He'll be excited. I think he'll be pleased in a way that Manchester City whilst he would have been flattered by their interest. The fact that they've just won the treble. You've got Pep Guardiola. You've got an incredible team there. I think if he had the option to go to Man City and that was the only option on the table he would have taken that with both hands. But I think the fact that Arsenal have been there for such a long period of time. They've been big admirers of Declan Rice for a number of seasons and it feels like this is the right time. His personal choice was to go to Arsenal which is something we've said continuously on Sky Sports News. He always had his heart set on joining the Gunners and I think he'll be pleased that this now feels like it's coming to an end because he doesn't want to spend the whole of his summer looking at his phone, getting phone calls from his agents, speaking to his family and constantly being distracted by what may or may not happen. When it gets confirmed, when it gets accepted he can then start his summer focusing on Arsenal and relaxing knowing that he's got a brand new era, a brand new exciting chapter in his life to come and I think the longer these things drag on the more damage it almost does to him personally whereas now it feels like we're getting to the final hurdles of this deal.