Manchester City will walk away from a move for Declan Rice after not being prepared to match Arsenal's latest offer.
City put in a bid of £90m this week after Arsenal saw two bids rejected for the West Ham captain, prompting fears from North London that the Premier League champions could steal one of their key transfer targets. That prompted a third bid from Arsenal late on Tuesday of £105m to try and seal the deal.
West Ham are in negotiations with Arsenal over the structure of the fee but had left the door open for City to come in with another bid of their own to prolong the auction. However, the Blues are not prepared to pay that money for Rice and are comfortable walking away from the deal.
It marks the second England international City have missed out on this summer, after Jude Bellingham chose to sign for Real Madrid. The club will assess their position in the market, but are comfortable in their familiar stance that sees them not pay over their valuations for players.
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Missing out on targets is nothing new, with similar incidents with Jorginho in 2018 and Harry Maguire in 2019 when the selling club wanted more than they were willing to pay, and the Blues have always put their overall look above the signing of any one player.
Mateo Kovacic was announced on Tuesday as the first signing for Pep Guardiola's side for next season, and RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol is a target in an expected defensive reshuffle.
