Man City PULL OUT of Declan Rice transfer race after Arsenal’s £105m bid for England star
MANCHESTER CITY have pulled out of the race to sign West Ham captain Declan Rice.
This comes after Arsenal lodged a £100million with £5million in add-ons bid for the Hammers star.
Man City had made an offer for the England midfielder last week worth £90m including add-ons.
But West Ham stood firm, demanding at least £100m for the 24-year-old.
However, SunSport understands that City are now not willing to match Arsenal's latest offer and are out of the race.
The Gunners are now negotiating over the structure of the deal with West Ham wanting a large sum of the money paid up-front.
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Talks are still ongoing with the Hammers not ready to accept the offer just yet – unhappy and frustrated over payment terms said to be spread out over five years.
Sources suggest reducing the timeframe by a year or two could swing it.
Rice has asked owner David Sullivan to accept it to get the transfer done.
Arsenal had two previous bids rejected by the Irons but are now set to smash their previous transfer record of £72m for Nicolas Pepe in 2019.
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Rice always preferred a move across London as he wants to stay in his home city and has been convinced on the team's project by boss Mikel Arteta.
The Spaniard wants the switch wrapped up before they head off on their pre-season tour of the United States, with their opening game coming on July 20.
Rice has been at West Ham his entire senior career.
He has played 245 times for the club, scoring 15 goals.
The England midfielder leaves with legendary status after helping fire David Moyes' men to Conference League glory last season.
West Ham had a gentlemen's agreement in place with him going into the transfer window, promising he would be allowed to go this summer.
Bayern Munich were initially in the mix but Rice was not interested as he wanted to stay in the Premier League.
His current deal at London Stadium expires in June 2024 with a club option to extend that by 12 months.
He rejected several offers from West Ham to extend that deal over the past 18 months, with the chance to earn over £200k-a-week.
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