Arsenal make £105m bid for West Ham midfielder Declan Rice to move ahead of Man City – Paper Round

Arsenal make huge bid for Rice

Arsenal look to be favourites to land Declan Rice from West Ham, with The Sun reporting a £105 million bid has been made.

“The Gunners are set to make Rice, 24, the most expensive British player ever with West Ham expected to accept the mega-money offer.

“The late move came just hours after Manchester City had seen a bid worth £80m plus £10m in add-ons rejected by the Hammers – having entered the race on Monday evening.

“Arsenal’s record-breaking proposal is their third attempt to land Rice so far this summer – the second was a club-record £90m bid made up of £75m up front plus £15m in add-ons.

“City must now fork out more than the £100m they secured Jack Grealish with in August 2021 or admit defeat in their pursuit of Rice.

“Rice’s preferred destination has always been North London under boss Mikel Arteta, despite his admiration for Pep Guardiola and their trophy haul.”

United turned down Rabiot

The Mirror suggests that Manchester United did not go through with the chance to sign Adrien Rabiot on a free contract because of the wage and bonus demands made by his mother, also his agent.

“Rabiot, 28, was heavily linked with a move to United last summer as Erik ten Hag tried to strengthen his midfield following the departures of Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic. Christian Eriksen had already made the move from Brentford, but Ten Hag also wanted to bring in someone a little deeper.

“However, United are back in for another midfielder this summer ahead of their return to Europe’s elite club competition.

“The Red Devils have had three bids rejected, and are seemingly unwilling to negotiate the proposal made by the west London club to up their offer to £58million plus add-ons.

“As a result, United had been looking at a potential move for Rabiot.

“It was reported that Rabiot’s agent, who is his mother, asked for a £8.6m per-season wage on a three-year deal. She also requested for a hefty signing-on bonus of around £8.6m.”

Tottenham confident after making Maddison bid

Tottenham have made a bid for James Maddison, the Leicester City playmaker.

The Daily Mail claims Tottenham are optimistic about getting a deal done.

“And there is growing confidence at the club that Tottenham will complete the signing of priority target Maddison.

“Personal terms have already been verbally agreed, with Maddison set to earn £170,000 a week.”

Real may make offer for Mbappe

Spanish newspaper Marca has suggested that Kylian Mbappe could leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer if a suitable offer is made, likely from Real Madrid.

However, this is yet to come to pass.

“Qatar will have to put the player on the market and wait for offers. The problem is that in addition to the agreement between PSG and Madrid, not forgetting the bad relations between the two clubs, Mbappe’s signature is also needed. It is the first time on the other hand that the French club has put its flagship player on the market. For Madrid, it is a way of securing the player now and also in a season in which the No.9 is free and the team, despite the arrival of Joselu, has been weakened in attack, especially with the departure of Benzema.”