International duty is over. Well, for England at least and this could impact Arsenal and their bid to tie up a deal for Declan Rice as soon as possible.
As reported by football.london all the way back in February, the midfielder is Mikel Arteta's priority signing this summer but for one reason or another the 24-year-old's future is still up in the air as the Gunners could perhaps face competition for his signature from Manchester City and Chelsea.
Due to West Ham United's preparations for the Europa Conference League final - which took place ten days after the final game of the 2022/23 Premier League season - Arsenal, out of respect, delayed submitting a first formal offer until after Rice had captained the side to a historic win over Fiorentina.
Even so, that bid - which football.london understands would have seen the Gunners pay £80m over six years with at least £10m in add-ons - was rejected instantly by the Hammers. Although, it is expected that another offer in excess of £100m including add-ons will be submitted.
Whether that's enough to tempt West Ham into a sale remains to be seen, but another reason for why there's been very little movement with regard to this transfer as well as other targets linked with a move to Arsenal - including Kai Havertz - is the international break.
With the UEFA Nations League finals, UEFA European Championship and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, as well as those all-important friendly matches taking place across the globe over the past week or so, ultimately many deals have been placed on hold.
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Of course, it's worth a reminder that the summer transfer window only officially opened last Wednesday (June 14) and with regards to Rice, for example, he wasn't even in the UK 24 hours later as he was part of the England squad that travelled to Malta for a European Championships qualifier the following day.
But the good news is that things should start accelerating from this week onwards as the aforementioned international fixtures will have all been completed very soon, thus giving Arsenal and every other team the green light to kick-start their business ahead of the new season.
In fact, with England's final game of the international window taking place on Monday night, perhaps the Rice to Arsenal transfer will now advance as very little stands in the way of the north London outfit completing all the formalties to make this deal official if they can reach an agreement with West Ham over a fee.
Having said that, the midfielder is likely to head off on an overdue summer holiday following a long season that also saw him represent the Three Lions at the World Cup. As a result, there is a strong possibility this transfer is further delayed until after Rice returns from his break.
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