Arsenal have played Rice game perfectly so far as rejected Manchester City bid underwhelms us all
The first Man City bid for Declan Rice has been framed as a bitter blow to Arsenal but they knew this was coming and haven’t been ‘blown out of the water’.
When Arsenal made their opening bid for Declan Rice this summer, a well-connected journalist at one of the country’s more respected daily newspapers quoted a source as saying that a Manchester City counter-offer would “blow” the Gunners “out of the water”.
Arsenal put packages worth £80m and £90m on the table, with both rejected out of hand and described internally at West Ham and externally by scoffing pundits as ’embarrassing’.
Manchester City formally entering the fray has been characterised by some outlets as the champions ‘pouncing’ on the ‘hesitancy’ of their rivals, for whom this represents an apparent ‘huge’ setback.
The single greatest football term of them all – ‘gazumping’ – has even been loosely bandied about for an offer that was predictably rejected almost as soon as it was made.
An improved instalment schedule and more achievable add-ons notwithstanding, Manchester City hardly barged into a private conversation with an emphatic, head-turning statement. Their opening gambit of a guaranteed £80m fee rising to £90m accomplished precisely the same thing as Arsenal’s widely condemned £75m down-payment which promised to reach the same final number.
It still fell short of West Ham’s valuation. It was still immediately rejected. There will still be more bids made by both sides. It ultimately changes nothing beyond Manchester City registering their entry in a race everyone knew they were already running.
READ MORE: Arsenal boosted by seven reasons Rice would still prefer them despite hijack attempt from Man City
And that is fine. The idea that Arsenal could ever have conducted the nine-figure club and likely British record signing of their priority summer target so smoothly, quietly and efficiently as to render any competition essentially moot is ludicrous. West Ham’s chairman did not confirm the theoretical availability of his captain on national radio in an effort to open the door to just one interested party. He has the bidding war he sought and was always likely to get for such an excellent player.
Arsenal could hardly have avoided the auction. Starting with an offer closer to West Ham’s reported valuation would only have undermined their own bargaining position and expedited Manchester City’s interest. The Hammers would have been able to sit back and watch the costs spiral over the following weeks – and there is only one possible winner when it comes to a clash of budgets with Pep Guardiola.
Mikel Arteta knew that. It’s why he has been laying the groundwork for months, putting in the extracurricular hours to establish the only possible market advantage Arsenal could conceivably hold over Manchester City. They want City to offer the same as them; they want the eventual decision to be down to Rice and not West Ham. This is playing into their hands.
Rice is not ‘desperate’ to join the Gunners by accident and their supposed lowballed bids have helped ensure the numbers do not get out of hand. Manchester City have followed their sensible lead, although they won’t face similar accusations of trying to undercut the sellers.
These negotiations take time, the sort social media and instant gratification does not allow. They are precarious, with buyers and sellers desperately pivoting to be seen as getting the best deal, and clubs eager not to show their hand too soon, set bars too high or cede too much control. There is a reason 14 of the 20 biggest Premier League summer signings ever were made in August or later, including each of the top five. The many moving parts involved – the agents and budgets and other targets – make patience the ultimate transfer virtue.
READ MORE: Arsenal enter race for £30m Rice alternative linked with Liverpool
The latest developments will not knock Arsenal off their course. Far from it. A third offer for Rice is incoming but as Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail stated, it ‘will not be in direct response to City’. Their sequence of bids was likely planned long ago in the event of inevitable West Ham resistance.
They will hold their nerve and trust the process because it’s what they do. But after it was promised that they would be “blown out of the water” by Manchester City, an opening offer from the champions that is barely going to cause a ripple only reinforces Arsenal’s composed approach thus far.
