Why Declan Rice Arsenal transfer is vital for Arteta’s team (2024)

The summer transfer window is open and there are plenty of big deals in the pipeline.

Liverpool have completed the signing of Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig. He is joining on a five-year contract. Manchester United, meanwhile, have made contact with Feyenoord over a potential move for goalkeeper Justin Bijlow.

• Premier League transfers: All the 2023 summer window deals
• WSL transfers: All the 2023 summer window deals

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After unexpectedly challenging Manchester City for the 2022-23 Premier League title until late in the season, Arsenal have now agreed a fee of £105million ($133m) for West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice, topping City’s £90m offer for him.

The heights Arsenal are willing to go regarding the fee for Rice may confuse some but, from the club’s perspective, landing the West Ham captain in this window is essential.

Why? A number of factors have been clear with the evolution of their recruitment strategy over the past two summers. Moving from ‘Project Youth 2.0’ going into the 2021-22 season to signing experienced players in their mid-twenties this time last year was key to Arsenal raising their level.

Rice serves as a continuation of last summer’s strategy as a 24-year-old who has started all 12 of England’s games at the past two major tournaments, started 93 per cent (190) of his 204 league appearances for West Ham and driven them to win the Europa Conference League final last month.

Read more below.

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Moises Caicedo is a man in demand and it looks increasingly likely that he will leave Brighton in the summer transfer window.

Chelsea are known admirers of the Ecuador international, while Manchester United have held an interest in him in the past.

Our Brighton writer Andy Naylor has given his thoughts in the thread below.

Manchester United are actively pursuing a move for Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount and recently had a third bid turned down by the west London club for his services.

Staff at United insisted they will not go higher than £55million for Mount and will end communication if Chelsea show no movement, although talks are taking place to see if the payment structure can be altered to find an agreement.

United have witnessed Chelsea sell Mateo Kovacic to Manchester City for £30m (£25m, plus £5m in add-ons) this week and question the disparity between that fee and their valuation of Mount, especially given that City are bankrolled by Abu Dhabi’s state wealth.

United, in recent years, have overspent on players and there is merit should they eventually decide to walk away from the Mount deal.

Read more below from Laurie Whitwell.

Arsenal have completed the £65million signing of Kai Havertz from Chelsea.

Havertz is expected to be utilised as a number 8 for Mikel Arteta's side, despite spending much of last season playing the number 9 role for Chelsea.

How will Havertz fit in at Arsenal and what can we expect from him in a midfield role? Liam Tharme and Liam Twomey explain all...

Chelsea have had a €15million (£12.95m, $16.38m) bid accepted for Santos winger Angelo Gabriel.

Chelsea plan to send the 18-year-old Brazilian on loan to Ligue 1 side Strasbourg — the club recently acquired by Chelsea’s owners.

Barcelona have preferential rights to equal any offer received for Angelo Gabriel, which they have held since 2022, but they are not expected to bid for the player.

Tottenham have completed the signing of James Maddison from Leicester, with an agreement reached this week after just a couple of days of talks.

However, and this is a deal almost a decade in the making. Spurs considered signing Maddison from Coventry City in January 2015 when he was 18 — and even by then they had been tracking him for a little while. They thought about going in for him in 2016 too, when he moved to Norwich City, then again in 2018, when Leicester bought him, and then again last summer.

What's changed, and why have things moved so quickly this time around?

Tottenham have completed the signing of James Maddison from Leicester in a deal worth over £40million.

Leicester were initially holding out for £60million ($76.4m), but Spurs will pay around £40m up front plus add-ons.

Maddison has signed a five-year deal to keep him at the club until 2028.

Arsenal have signed Kai Havertz for £65m, agreed a £105m fee for Declan Rice and proposed a deal worth £30m for Jurrien Timber.

No other Premier League club has so far shown as much intent in this burgeoning window but, for Arsenal, it continues an ambitious pattern.

But how can they afford those big transfers under FFP?

Read below as Phil Buckingham explains.

James Maddison has completed his Tottenham medical ahead of his move from Leicester in a deal worth more than £40million.

The Athletic reported on Wednesday that Spurs and Leicester had agreed a fee for the England international, who had a year left to run on his contract at the recently-relegated club.

Leicester were initially holding out for £60million ($76.4m), but Spurs will pay around £40m up front plus add-ons.

Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Kai Havertz from Chelsea for a fee of £65million.

The Athletic reported last week that the north London club had agreed a deal in principle for the forward, who underwent a medical over the weekend.

Arsenal are set to pay an initial £62m for the German international with a further £3m in add-ons.

“Kai is a player of top quality," said Mikel Arteta. "He has great versatility and is an intelligent player. He will bring a huge amount of extra strength to our midfield and variety to our play."

Arsenal have agreed a £105million fee with West Ham for the signing of Declan Rice.

The two clubs are in the process of trying to resolve payment terms.

Manchester City pulled out of the race to sign Rice on Wednesday following Arsenal’s improved bid worth up to £105m ($133m).

City had matched Arsenal’s £90million proposal, offering an increased sum up front, only for both bids to be rejected.

But Arsenal returned on Tuesday evening with an initial fee of £100m and an extra £5m in add-ons.

As reported by David Ornstein, while exploring a move to sign RB Leipzig attacker Dominik Szoboszlai Liverpool are also interested in Khephren Thuram.

The 22-year-old Nice midfielder has been profiled as part of our 50 exciting players under the age of 25 series (you can find them all here)...

"Standing at 6ft 3in (1.92m), Thuram's powerful carries from central midfield have led to comparisons with Paul Pogba and while his best position is on the left of a midfield three, he does not yet possess the passing creativity or skill moves when dribbling that a young Pogba had.

"But Thuram is still a powerful midfielder who serves as a propulsive element to his team."

Liverpool are exploring a move to sign RB Leipzig attacker Dominik Szoboszlai.

They met with 22-year-old’s representatives this week with a view to a transfer this summer.

Any potential deal is complicated, however, and there is an acceptance within the club that it will be a very difficult deal to get done.

Szoboszlai is high in Liverpool’s thinking amid interest in the likes of both Khephren Thuram and Romeo Lavia, while any move is unrelated to Fabio Carvalho’s proposed loan move to the Bundesliga club.

Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier has recovered after a groin operation and will be available for the start of pre-season.

Dier has one year left on his current deal but his focus is on next season with Spurs and he is expected to stay this summer.

The 29-year-old missed the end of the last campaign after having surgery on a longstanding groin injury that had been bothering him since the World Cup.

But he’s fully fit again and will link up at Hotspur Way with new head coach Ange Postecoglou and the rest of the players who were not involved in recent international matches.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Edouard Mendy is the third Chelsea player to join a Saudi Pro League club this month.

These links lead to scrutiny of the nature of the relationship between the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Chelsea’s majority owner Clearlake Capital.

Here Matt Slater explains those links in detail.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Edouard Mendy has completed a move from Chelsea to Al Ahli.

The Senegal international goalkeeper leaves the club after three seasons in west London.

He has signed a three-year deal with the Saudi Pro League club.

He will join former team-mates Kalidou Koulibaly and N'Golo Kante in moving to Saudi Arabia this month while Hakim Ziyech is expected to join them.

Clubs will have a maximum of five years to pay off transfer fee instalments regardless of contract length following amendments to UEFA regulations.

Previous regulations had stated that transfer fees had to be paid off — amortised — over the duration of a player’s contract, however long that may be.

The amendments will come into force from July 1 and will not be backdated.

So the changes will not impact Chelsea’s Financial Fair Play calculations following their extraordinary January transfer window. Mykhailo Mudryk’s €70million (£62m) fixed transfer fee will continue to be spread out over an eight-and-a-half-year period and the £106million paid for Enzo Fernandez will be paid over an eight-year period.

As reported on The Athletic on Tuesday, David de Gea signed a contract extension with Manchester United only for the club to back out of the agreed proposal.

They have now submitted a new proposal to De Gea, whose contract expires on June 30, with an even lower salary.

And with a decision still to be announced, there was a yawning emoji posted on De Gea's Twitter account on Wednesday.

With the deadline for his deal to run out getting closer, we will bring you updates on his future as soon as we get them.

We've looked at the Declan Rice-to-Arsenal transfer with West Ham reporter Roshane Thomas, and had a breakdown from Mark Carey about what attracted the north London club and Manchester City to the midfielder.

Now, Tifo's JJ Bull will run us through why Rice is particularly suited to Arsenal...

You can watch JJ's analysis here.