So, Manchester City have made their move to sign Declan Rice right under Arsenal's nose.
Interest in the England international from the Premier League champions dates back to before the summer transfer window opened and it finally morphed into a formal offer of £80 million guaranteed with £10m in add-ons which football.london understands has already been rejected by West Ham United.
This marks the third bid that the Hammers have rejected for their captain within the past fortnight. Of course, the previous two have come from the Gunners with the 24-year-old being identified as Mikel Arteta's priority signing this summer in an attempt to bolster his midfield options ahead of the new season.
Arsenal's most recent offer, which is understood to have been £75m+£15m is less than the offer that Man City tabled, although the Cityzens did offer £5m more upfront in comparison whilst also being willing to pay the transfer fee in fewer installments.
However, with West Ham holding out for £100m, both clubs will have to raise their respective offers in order to find a speedy resolution. Having said that, the north London outfit are expected to return with a third bid and it could very well turn out to be the final one.
While Arsenal have always felt confident in their quest to sign Rice, football.london have previously reported that they've been keen to avoid being dragged into a bidding war which appears to have been West Ham's plan all along having rejected offers below their £100m-plus valuation to allow Man City to enter the race.
READ MORE: Arsenal sent Enzo Fernandez transfer request in third Declan Rice bid from West Ham
Therefore if bid number three is rejected, it poses the question as to will Edu and company go back in and hope it will be a case of fourth time lucky? Well, taking this scenario into account as well as the possibility of Man City returning with an improved offer of their own, it could be that Arsenal stick to their principles.
After all, the north London outfit have demonstrated in the past 12 months that they are willing to walk away from priority targets like Lisandro Martinez and Mykhailo Mudryk - who eventually joined Manchester United and Chelsea last summer and in the January window respectively.
If Arsenal and Man City both end up having offers accepted for Rice, the Gunners' stance has always been that it will ultimately come down to the player to decide and it's been widely reported that the midfielder's preference is to stay in London so perhaps a resolution to this transfer saga is right around the corner.
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