Arsenal have agreed a £105m deal to sign West Ham captain, Declan Rice.
The transfer breaks down as an £100m initial fee plus £5m in performance related add-ons.
The structure of the payments are still being discussed between the two clubs, but Rice is now free to discuss personal terms and look at having his medical.
Arsenal have already had two club-record bids rejected by the Irons – a £90m bid comprising a £75m fee and £15m in add-ons, and an opening offer thought to be worth £80m plus add-ons.
The offer smashes Arsenal’s transfer record – the £72m they paid Lille for Nicolas Pepe in 2019.
Rice has spent his entire professional career with West Ham and led the club to the Europa Conference League title as his last act.
Mikel Arteta, who has mostly relied on Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard as his midfielders last season, has been keen to strengthen in that area of the field. He looks to have got his No 1 target.
Hammers chairman, David Sullivan, said a gentleman’s agreement meant Rice could leave despite having a year remaining on his contract, with the option to extend it by a further 12 months.
Rice joined West Ham’s academy from Chelsea as a teenager, and has been ever-present since his breakthrough season in 2017-18. He took over the captaincy after Mark Noble’s retirement last year.
The 24-year-old played 50 games in all competitions last season as West Ham finished 14th in the Premier League, before winning the Europa Conference League in Prague.
Rice has played more than 200 games for West Ham and earned 41 caps for England since his international debut in 2019. —SkySport
