Declan Rice | Arsenal £105m player

[cesc's_mullet]

Or, is it that they actually place a value on a player and don't want to go over it? Sensible management I know, as much as it pains many to accept it, but it's happened lots of times, and seems much more plausible than bidding for players they don't want to feck with others!

No, don't you realise it was actually a fake real bid from City, not to be confused with those real fake bids. It was all some ploy that they did, for reasons.

Thankfully the galaxy brains in this thread cracked the code, or we'd have never got to the bottom of it.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Who said that? Show me where that was claimed by anyone.

That's how you feel, isn't it? City and Bayern tried to convince him and failed. Not many clubs bigger than that. He only has his heart out for you.

 

[Red Royal]

It is going to be really interesting to see of the price tag and higher expectations at Gunners will weigh heavily on Rice's shoulders.
With no disrespect to West Ham, most big games there was less pressure as they were expected to lose to City, Liverpool etc. Perhaps the European final had most pressure.
Now week in week out this £105M player's performance will be scrutinised. Every loose ball, mistimed tackle or poor positional play etc. will be up for discussion.
It could make him or could break him...

 

[Hammondo]

City have broken 115 rules regarding financial Fairplay, we know from the German press leaks that they were actually paying people off the books teo separate wages. Do I believe that same club is financially savvy and actually says no if they think someone is too expensive by 10m? No do I feck

It's similar to how you play poker, the player with the most money bullies the others into wasting money.

 

[GoonerBear]

No, don't you realise it was actually a fake real bid from City, not to be confused with those real fake bids. It was all some ploy that they did, for reasons.

Thankfully the galaxy brains in this thread cracked the code, or we'd have never got to the bottom of it.

Im lost with it all now. It seems we've now to ignore all reliable reporters reporting bids etc, unless it's City bidding for players they don't really want, or Caceido who has that many more suitors he's still at Brighton with only Chelsea?!

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

It's similar to how you play poker, the player with the most money bullies the others into wasting money.

I’ve seen how City operate when they desperately want a player or manager or director, they make sure they do not lose that battle and if it means paying hundreds of millions of the books or paying Haaland and his dad and his agents tens of millions, they make things work when they really want it.
I’ve also seen how they “reportedly” are interested in players like Fred, Alexis, Maguire Rice et cetera and how they then give up so easily.

 

[GoonerBear]

City have broken 115 rules regarding financial Fairplay, we know from the German press leaks that they were actually paying people off the books teo separate wages. Do I believe that same club is financially savvy and actually says no if they think someone is too expensive by 10m? No do I feck

Are we allowed to belive those German press leaks though, or we not ignoring those ones? And dealing with clubs is different than dealing direct with players, as the selling club will have a record of the transactions, not just City.

 

[RedC]

City also wanted Maguire, Sancho, Pogba, Fred etc. the difference is City play a brand of football that no one else does or can do due to Pep.

All overpriced, overhyped players that failed to deliver, I'm seeing a trend. City somehow get whatever they want, whenever they want it, except in these circumstances...

 

[Traub]

It is going to be really interesting to see of the price tag and higher expectations at Gunners will weigh heavily on Rice's shoulders.
With no disrespect to West Ham, most big games there was less pressure as they were expected to lose to City, Liverpool etc. Perhaps the European final had most pressure.
Now week in week out this £105M player's performance will be scrutinised. Every loose ball, mistimed tackle or poor positional play etc. will be up for discussion.
It could make him or could break him...

That lasts for 12 months until the next 100m signing in the league. I wouldn't worry about it in the long-term, unless he turns into an absolute flop like Maguire.

 

[Traub]

All overpriced, overhyped players that failed to deliver, I'm seeing a trend. City somehow get whatever they want, whenever they want it, except in these circumstances...

City also have their fair share of flops, they're just a very successful team so it doesn't matter - same as when we used to sign the likes of Veron, Kleberson et al but it didn't matter.

 

[GoonerBear]

All overpriced, overhyped players that failed to deliver, I'm seeing a trend. City somehow get whatever they want, whenever they want it, except in these circumstances...

They were overpriced because you paid the fee, they failed to deliver because they played for a Utd in turmoil rather than City.

That's the circumstances I'm seeing anyway....

 

[Hammondo]

They were overpriced because you paid the fee, they failed to deliver because they played for a Utd in turmoil rather than City.

That's the circumstances I'm seeing anyway....

And they are not good enough, that's why no one wants to buy them.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Are we allowed to belive those German press leaks though, or we not ignoring those ones? And dealing with clubs is different than dealing direct with players, as the selling club will have a record of the transactions, not just City.

The German press leaked official documents from Manchester City, not quite the same as one Telegraph reporter reporting a bid, a bid being leaked by the selling club to push up a price and if you don’t think that’s happening in football you’re naive as feck.

As I said, I could choose to believe it, but then I would also have to believe the widely reported bids for Fred, Alexis & Maguire and quite frankly I don’t. When City wanted Agüero, they did what it took. When they wanted Pep Guardiola they even brought in his old directors to prepare the way, and when they wanted Haaland they paid whatever his agent, father and player wanted, because when they really want someone, they get it done & that’s why they are where they are.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

okay mate, everything that is everything that is leaked a Telegraph reporter is definitely true, especially when it comes to transfer and a club attempting to push up a fee. Keep being that naive.
Let’s all pretend they wanted McGuire, Fred and Alexis too as it was also widely reported.

Maguire
Pep, "Yeah. Maguire is an excellent, top-class player.

"We were interested, but we could not afford it. United afford it. He's an excellent player, national team too, he had an incredible World Cup... etc"

Fred
Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov has confirmed just how serious City were about signing the 25-year-old at the start of the year.

“You know that we had negotiations with Manchester City this winter, and there was an official offer - a very big figure,” he said. “They offered us around 50 million euros for Fred."

Sanchez
City bid £55m + 5m on deadline day, which was rejected. This was their second bid that window.

They also then bid £20m in January too.

It takes minimal effort to refute your posts. Pro tip: you should try looking into what you're wanting to post before you expose yourself.

 

[Rado_N]

The German press leaked official documents from Manchester City, not quite the same as one Telegraph reporter reporting a bid, a bid being leaked by the selling club to push up a price and if you don’t think that’s happening in football you’re naive as feck.

As I said, I could choose to believe it, but then I would also have to believe the widely reported bids for Fred, Alexis & Maguire and quite frankly I don’t. When City wanted Agüero, they did what it took. When they wanted Pep Guardiola they even brought in his old directors to prepare the way, and when they wanted Haaland they paid whatever his agent, father and player wanted, because when they really want someone, they get it done & that’s why they are where they are.

You know it takes more than “what City want” for them to sign someone, right?

The player has to want to go there, and Rice clearly wanted to go to Arsenal.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Maguire
Pep, "Yeah. Maguire is an excellent, top-class player.

"We were interested, but we could not afford it. United afford it. He's an excellent player, national team too, he had an incredible World Cup... etc"

Fred
Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov has confirmed just how serious City were about signing the 25-year-old at the start of the year.

“You know that we had negotiations with Manchester City this winter, and there was an official offer - a very big figure,” he said. “They offered us around 50 million euros for Fred."

Sanchez
City bid £55m + 5m on deadline day, which was rejected. This was their second bid that window.

They also then bid £20m in January too.

It takes minimal effort to refute your posts. Pro tip: you should try looking into what you're wanting to post before you expose yourself.

That’s my whole point man, they are half arsed attempts which they bailed out of the second another team was interested.
And they also show that City being “interested” means very little with regards to a players ability or their resolve to complete a deal.

 

[GoonerBear]

And they are not good enough, that's why no one wants to buy them.

Well their performances for you and their high wages have put buyers off, that much is true.
Doesn't mean to say City weren't wanting to buy them in the first place, or their own form or career might have looked different if they played for the best coach in the world in much more defined system and setup.

This is a very strange discussion all in to be honest. We're talking about a football club making massive multi million pound bids not really wanting them to be accepted it seems!

 

[cyberman]

Well their performances for you and their high wages have put buyers off, that much is true.
Doesn't mean to say City weren't wanting to buy them in the first place, or their own form or career might have looked different if they played for the best coach in the world in much more defined system and setup.

This is a very strange discussion all in to be honest. We're talking about a football club making massive multi million pound bids not really wanting them to be accepted it seems!

If reports are true and Rice did want Arsenal, why would City make a bid if they knew Rice didn’t want to leave London?

 

[GoonerBear]

If reports are true and Rice did want Arsenal, why would City make a bid if they knew Rice didn’t want to leave London?

Rice's apparent preference was to stay in London, but he was never going to totally dismiss the current champions and European Cup winners totally, he'd be mad to do that, and not leave options open.
His people would have said to City's people that he would listen to any offers that West Ham found acceptable. This was widely reported at the time, both from West Ham end and City's end.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

You know it takes more than “what City want” for them to sign someone, right?

The player has to want to go there, and Rice clearly wanted to go to Arsenal.

So City bid for a player who doesn’t want to play for them?

And said player preferred no titles in forever vs. Treble winning 5 out of 6 titles Pep Guardiola’s side?

Seems a stretch to believe either.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

That's how you feel, isn't it? City and Bayern tried to convince him and failed. Not many clubs bigger than that. He only has his heart out for you.

So we've now gone from "every single team in the world" to two teams in the matter of one post. Bless.

On a more serious pisstaking aside note - I don't think Bayern could afford to pay as much as City offered, never mind what we offered in the end.

It also seems that staying in London was a large contributing factor for Rice, given his young family.

City made an improved offer compared to our original bids; similar money on much better terms. Then we upped our bid completely, it wasn't just an incremental improvement either, it was an extra 10 million.

I'm not sure why City didn't try again, I'd speculate that they maybe went with the best bid they were willing to make first up and that was it. IMO they don't actually need him given they have Rodri and had already signed Kovacic.

I don't know whether he'd choose us over them, I highly doubt it, but maybe the London factor plus the role/vision Arteta had for him was more appealing than being just another good player wedged into City's squad.

His interview suggests that Arteta was a contributing factor. This seems to be a theme amongst players - he seems to be able to impress players with his knowledge and vision for their personal development and role in the side. Obviously this isn't unique to just Arteta, but it's worth noting that all the players say similar things quite regularly.

But none of that matters anyway because in this actual reality (not like that fake one RAB has created in his mind with these phantom City bids) we managed to sign him so the reason is irrelevant beyond fans on here trying to get petty internet points.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

But none of that matters anyway because in this actual reality (not like that fake one RAB has created in his mind with these phantom City bids) we managed to sign him so the reason is irrelevant beyond fans on here trying to get petty internet points.

City painting a picture of a side who “can’t afford players” is no creation of my imagination, there’s 115 strong reasons to show it.
Losing out on Maguire or Rice because they “can’t afford it” fits in perfectly with that. Pep has been quoted many times lamenting how City can’t afford things, whilst in the background they broke ffp rule after ffp rule.

But this is no slight on Arsenal or the player, it’s taking the piss out of City’s scumfeckery. If I wanted to slight on your claim of Rice being ace because top clubs like City wanted him, I could simply point to Maguire, Fred & Alexis.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

That’s my whole point man, they are half arsed attempts which they bailed out of the second another team was interested.
And they also show that City being “interested” means very little with regards to a players ability or their resolve to complete a deal.

Amongst all of what you said to try and make your point you specifically mentioned that City weren't interested in Fred, when the Shaktar President confirms that City bid for him.

The Sanchez deal only collapsed last minute because we couldn't get the deal done for Thomas Lemar. City waited to put pressure on us, as Sanchez made it clear he wanted to leave. They bid late, we accepted, but we didn't have enough time to complete the Lemar deal, so as a result the Sanchez deal fell through.

This is all hardly suggestive of a club putting in half arsed bids for a player they secretly don't actually want.

What if City had their Rice bid accepted, then what happens?

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Amongst all of what you said to try and make your point you specifically mentioned that City weren't interested in Fred, when the Shaktar President confirms that City bid for him.

The Sanchez deal only collapsed last minute because we couldn't get the deal done for Thomas Lemar. City waited to put pressure on us, as Sanchez made it clear he wanted to leave. They bid late, we accepted, but we didn't have enough time to complete the Lemar deal, so as a result the Sanchez deal fell through.

This is all hardly suggestive of a club putting in half arsed bids for a player they secretly don't actually want.

What if City had their Rice bid accepted, then what happens?

If the bid wasn’t a West Ham leak you mean in order to force Arsenal to up their bid?
The bid sounds nonsensical even if you believe it to be true, they’d just turned down the exact same amount and were demanding 120m. Why the funk would they have then accepted it from a far far richer club? It’s almost as though it was a bid designed to fail.

 

[Rado_N]

So City bid for a player who doesn’t want to play for them?

And said player preferred no titles in forever vs. Treble winning 5 out of 6 titles Pep Guardiola’s side?

Seems a stretch to believe either.

Players and their agents inviting offers from all available teams is negotiation 101 and happens literally all the time, so yes it’s very much believable that they would court offers from City in spite of not wanting to go there.

As for his preferences, it’s well established he didn’t want to leave London and I believe fairly widely reported that he likes Arteta. If you accept his preference to stay in London it’s really not hard to see why he’d chose Arsenal.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

City painting a picture of a side who “can’t afford players” is no creation of my imagination, there’s 115 strong reasons to show it.
Losing out on Maguire or Rice because they “can’t afford it” fits in perfectly with that. Pep has been quoted many times lamenting how City can’t afford things, whilst in the background they broke ffp rule after ffp rule.

But this is no slight on Arsenal or the player, it’s taking the piss out of City’s scumfeckery. If I wanted to slight on your claim of Rice being ace because top clubs like City wanted him, I could simply point to Maguire, Fred & Alexis.

Yeah, I will agree that (IMO) City seemingly did not want to sign Rice as much as Arteta did.

The difference between Maguire and this situation is that, as far as I'm aware, City did not bid for Maguire. Obviously they did bid for Rice though. There's a big difference between not bidding at all to bidding 90+ million.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Yeah, I will agree that (IMO) City seemingly did not want to sign Rice as much as Arteta did.

Which begs the question, who the funk bids 90 fecking million quid for a player they aren’t that determined to sign?

I just don’t trust City for one second, their scumfeckery means that Pep will likely spend a decade there, whilst only managing 3 years at his childhood love of a club. They get what they want and spend the rest of their time trying to fool the World into believing they play by the same rules.

 

[cyberman]

Yeah, I will agree that (IMO) City seemingly did not want to sign Rice as much as Arteta did.

The difference between Maguire and this situation is that, as far as I'm aware, City did not bid for Maguire. Obviously they did bid for Rice though. There's a big difference between not bidding at all to bidding 90+ million.

City told Maguire they would match Uniteds bid for him if he agreed to join City.
He choose United so they didn’t bother

 

[GoonerBear]

If the bid wasn’t a West Ham leak you mean in order to force Arsenal to up their bid?
The bid sounds nonsensical even if you believe it to be true, they’d just turned down the exact same amount and were demanding 120m. Why the funk would they have then accepted it from a far far richer club? It’s almost as though it was a bid designed to fail.

I think they thought if they could offer West Ham to pay the money over 2 installments rather than the 5 years Arsenal had originally offered, that might change their minds.

Seemingly their add ons were a lot easier to achieve than our initial offer as well.

They also might have thought we were at our limit, and wouldnt go much further. We had already been gazumped not 6 months earlier in similar circumstance for Mudryk, with the Shaktar chairman scoffing at our add on proposals compared to Chelsea's.

However, Rice it seems was a lot more critical to us than Mudryk, hence it shows with the final bid we put in.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Im lost with it all now. It seems we've now to ignore all reliable reporters reporting bids etc, unless it's City bidding for players they don't really want, or Caceido who has that many more suitors he's still at Brighton with only Chelsea?!

Based on what these select few posters are saying I think I've been able to boil it down to this - if it paints Arsenal in the worst possible light and discredits anything the club does then that is the actual truth of the situation. Disregard everything else.

 

[crossy1686]

Will there be the same pressure on United to win trophies after you wrap up Onana and whoever else (Hjolund?), in which case United's spending would exceed Arsenal's from 2019 to date.

Of course there's pressure to do well, but there relative and realistically City are clearly the best team on the planet - as evidence by their recent Treble.

Erm, yes? You think anyone at United is satisfied with finishing just 4th next season? If we don’t win something it’s a massive disappointment.

Are you suggesting we should all just be satisfied with taking part because City are a good team?

 

[RedC]

Based on what these select few posters are saying I think I've been able to boil it down to this - if it paints Arsenal in the worst possible light and discredits anything the club does then that is the actual truth of the situation. Disregard everything else.

You're acting like people are attacking Arsenal, when really all people are saying is that City supposedly bidding and being in for a player doesn't really always mean that they actually wanted them; Utd fans have a decent amount of experience in this area. If City really wanted him, he'd be at City, I think most people would agree with that.

 

[Dancfc]

Erm, yes? You think anyone at United is satisfied with finishing just 4th next season? If we don’t win something it’s a massive disappointment.

Are you suggesting we should all just be satisfied with taking part because City are a good team?

For me part of the reason City are so dominant is because the rest of the league act like there's four winners. Even Klopp (the only manager to have regularly kept Pep on his toes) did a Wenger when he snuck into the top 4 in 2021.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Based on what these select few posters are saying I think I've been able to boil it down to this - if it paints Arsenal in the worst possible light and discredits anything the club does then that is the actual truth of the situation. Disregard everything else.

What? I’m painting City and their cheating feckwhittery in a shitty light, and United for spunking money on Alexis, Fred & Maguire when City were apparently “interested”. I have absolutely no idea how the Rice purchase will work out at this point, but Arteta got his man which at this stage Arsenal must see as good news.

I think the idea City like to peddle of not being able to afford things is another part of their 115 points cheating as feck charade. Claiming you lost out on a player by bidding the same amount already completely discarded by the selling club as much too low does appear like a bid designed to fail so that your hypocritical bald prick manager can once again pretend City couldn’t afford what they wanted.

I did argue a stat which included total shots taken in a season and not per 90 minutes, nor the quality of those shots wasn’t a particularly helpful one mind.

Why on Earth would you consider any of that as an attempt to paint Arsenal in the worst possible light man?

 

[cesc's_mullet]

What? I’m painting City and their cheating feckwhittery in a shitty light, and United for spunking money on Alexis, Fred & Maguire when City were apparently “interested”. I have absolutely no idea how the Rice purchase will work out at this point, but Arteta got his man which at this stage Arsenal must see as good news.

Why on Earth would you consider that as painting Arsenal in a bad light man?

I did not mean you specifically. I'm referring to the sarcastic 'he rejected everyone to sign for Arsenal,' the he's a midfield Maguire, no other big clubs were after him (which insinuates that if there was we'd never have signed him), etc.

Though I don't really agree with what you are saying in general, as City were clearly interested enough to put in a bid. And I do appreciate that you're not saying the insinuation above.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

Erm, yes? You think anyone at United is satisfied with finishing just 4th next season? If we don’t win something it’s a massive disappointment.

Are you suggesting we should all just be satisfied with taking part because City are a good team?

No not really, though I am highlighting the unfortunate reality of the situation. City aren't just a good team, they're a juggernaut currently.

There's every chance the second placed team could end up with 90+ points and still lose.

 

[Dancfc]

No not really, though I am highlighting the unfortunate reality of the situation. City aren't just a good team, they're a juggernaut currently.

There's every chance the second placed team could end up with 90+ points and still lose.

They are but ultimately if you held two 2 goals leads and beat the bottom side at home there's nothing City and Haaland's record breaking could have done.

 

[SAFMUTD]

We paid £35mil for Xhaka in 2016 and got £21.5mil from Leverkusen. Not bad for a 30yr old player who had a rocky time at Arsenal, to say the least. Glad he left on a high note though.

Still by the way some here are talking you'd think arsenal are complete morons. By that logic you'd just sold a player for 22M only to sing a 100M+ player who isn't as good.

 

[Bebestation]

As someone who was craving to see Rice at United -

One thing that interests me is how he said that “he wants to give his best years” to Arsenal.

Seems like he may not be a player that completely retires at Arsenal.

It gives me hope that one day if he does turn to be a great player that he would join us after giving up at Arsenal just like Robin Van Persie.

 

[GoonerGirly]

Still by the way some here are talking you'd think arsenal are complete morons. By that logic you'd just sold a player for 22M only to sing a 100M+ player who isn't as good.

As far as I understand it, Xhaka is the one who wanted to go and find a new challenge. At 30, he probably felt that he's achieved all he can at Arsenal and has given his best years to us. We didn't stand in the way of that. Arteta's succession planning probably had Xhaka playing a smaller role in the next couple of years anyway.
I'm sure in Arteta's mind Rice will potentially be better than Xhaka, though not a like for like replacement style wise.