Exclusive: Ben Jacobs Takeover - Why Arsenal will be in the frame for Declan Rice, issues with Man United's striker search + who's in pole position for Moises Caicedo?

Exclusive transfer news column, featuring the latest on Declan Rice, Joao Felix, Jude Bellingham, Moises Caicedo and more!

Hello and welcome to my first column! It’s a pleasure to be joining Fabrizio Romano and the other contributors to the Daily Briefing in partnership with caughtoffside.com. I look forward to sharing my exclusive transfer news insights with you, and please feel free to leave a comment with any questions you’d like me to answer in next week’s column.

Why Arsenal are alongside Chelsea & Man Utd in the frame for Declan Rice

West Ham are resigned to losing Declan Rice. They were very bullish last summer, telling suitors that it was a £100million-plus deal. Now, I think that West Ham will sell Rice at a fraction of that, and suitors such as Chelsea and Manchester United see an opportunity to move for something around the £70-75million mark.

Speaking at the World Cup, Rice said he’s envious of his teammates playing in the Champions League. He won’t be moving in January so he can assess the situation by the summer and see who’s playing in the Champions League. Chelsea have put in a little more leg work on this deal than most, but it’s going to be quite an open race and Arsenal might well enter it a bit later. If they win the league or at least qualify for the Champions League, they could be in a strong position. Sources have said on multiple occasions that Rice would like to stay in London, which opens the door to both Arsenal and Chelsea, perhaps more so than Manchester United. Another issue with United is until the ownership situation changes, we don’t know what kind of budget they’re working on.