EXCL: Inside Arsenal's Declan Rice deal as Mikel Arteta and players past and present saw off competition from Chelsea, plus Man Utd preparing Rasmus Hojlund bid, latest Liverpool targets, & more

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How Arsenal’s charm offensive won over Declan Rice

Arsenal have their number one summer target in Declan Rice. For many months the now former West Ham captain only wanted Arsenal.

In fact, even if Manchester City had matched the £105m package, Rice still would have picked Arsenal. That’s partly why City pulled out. Their only real hope was to trump Arsenal’s package, but instead it was the Gunners who bid big. This played right into West Ham’s hands, who wanted a bidding war.

Back in January, Arsenal actually felt like £70-75m might be possible, especially with West Ham fighting relegation at the time. Arsenal have paid far more in the end, but they view the huge fee as an investment not an expense. They also didn’t want a repeat of the Mykhaylo Mudryk saga and to risk being outbid. I do think when they placed the £105m offer that was at the back of their mind.

Arsenal knew Rice spoke glowingly of Mikel Arteta and ideally wanted to stay in London so that helped their cause. But Chelsea were in the mix as well up until January.