Declan Rice’s top priority is to join Arsenal rather than Manchester City.
Rice, 24, will be allowed to leave the London Stadium this summer, but West Ham will demand at least £100 million for him. City is willing to invest that much money to recruit the England international after spending £100 million to sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa two years ago.
Arsenal has already made two bids for Rice, both of which have been turned down. Their most recent bid was £90 million, with £75 million paid up front. Arsenal are poised to make a third bid soon in order to beat City to his signature.
Mirror Football examines the three main reasons why Rice is willing to turn down Pep Guardiola’s Treble winners for a career at Arsenal.
WHY DOES RICE WANT ARSENAL?
According to The Guardian, one of the key reasons Rice wants to join Arsenal is that it will allow him to stay in London near his family and friends. The midfielder was born and raised in Kingston upon Thames, London, and would have to relocate to the north to play for City.
Rice began his career at Chelsea before moving on to West Ham after the Blues dismissed him in 2014. It would be a difficult decision for the Londoner to leave his hometown when a local team can provide him Champions League football.
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Rice’s devotion to Kingston was palpable during an interview with Gary Neville for The Overlap. The West Ham captain took Neville on a tour of his neighborhood park, pointing off the football fields where he spent most of his time playing with friends.
“It’s always nice to come back,” the popular star said. I still see a lot of my friends [who live here] to this day, and I believe it’s very essential to stay connected to this place since it played such a crucial role in my youth.”
Rice even revealed that he returned to Kingston a week before the interview to play snooker because he was bored. In Manchester, he won’t be able to do so.
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