No Arsenal offer for Rice
West Ham have had no Arsenal offer for Declan Rice despite the constant speculation the Gooners are in and ready to offer an opening £90 million.
Barely a day passes without Arsenal and Declan being mentioned in the same sentence but Claret and Hugh can exclusively reveal that there has been no opening bid or inquiry at this point.
Declan’s father/agent Sean has been working hard on a possible deal and the Emirates is Declan’s preferred destination but at this stage there is no suggestion of a fee being offered to the Hammers by Arsenal nor has there been any contact between the two clubs.
We have been told, however, that Declan’s preference appears to rule out and chance of Bayern and Manchester United landing a deal although the Irons board will wait for all offers to be made before coming to a decision.
ClaretandHugh asked it’s top source at the London Stadium whether the deal was as close as many were suggesting and were told: “No but but that is where he would prefer to go although we have heard nothing from them.”
Rice has made up his mind, it seems, that he wishes to remain in London but reports this morning that he had told a young fan he was a West Ham player, end of, were described by our source as being no more than a polite response.
The 24 year old looks to be on his way although the Hammers are determined it won’t be on the cheap and want the £100 million plus price tag they have placed on him.
Exclusive by Hughie Southon
The worse thing that can happen now is that this drags on for the summer. Let’s move on this quickly, if he is determined to leave. We need to do our business otherwise early otherwise we will end up with players that really wont improve us. 90 million is plenty enough to do a deal so we can get the targets we want.
Your “top source” at the London Stadium must be passing on highly classified information and to what end?
IF Rice is to leave the board will want the highest amount possible and empowering Arsenal by telling a journalist they are his preferred target makes absolutely NO FINANCIAL SENSE.
This source either knows nothing or has been told to divulge certain questionable information (for whatever reason)
And if it’s not either of these scenarios if DS finds out (who they are) they will almost certainly be picking up thier P45
Oh really! LOL Its extremely well known that he is an Arsenal target and it isn’t stopping them or the others. Plus, if you believe clubs pull out of deals because a journalist may report they are interested take a look at history and realise how many times you have been wrong!! Always is the answer.