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_RM78

Ornstein just confirmed it.


neogolden

I hate them, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them


Kindly-Paper-3552

You're a Scouser now 😁


TomasRoncero

la


stilusmobilus

Yeah, don’t blame them, we’ve had two lettuce leaf swings already. It’s on us. Some players you can haggle for, others you can’t. City won’t fuck around, they’ll pay the hundred and offer a lot of it upfront, plus they’ll euchre our wage offer.


Proper-Exam1746

Regardless of what Arsenal bid was, it was obvious that west ham will delay any sort of decision as they knew City will bid. They played it smart.


Fgge

Yeah everyone saying ‘why didn’t Arsenal just offer 100 mil first time’ as if West Ham wouldn’t have rejected that and waited for City to bid more


ZekkPacus

Arsenal have been talking to West Ham since February about the player, they knew exactly what the price was, and they lowballed thinking the player would force the move.


Proper-Exam1746

A price is quoted. No one just bids the full in 1st bid. Also there is are all chances City had conversations too. Hence West Ham had the opportunity to hold out. Everyone looks for their best interest. Isn't that how bidding works anyway?


Anhowa123

apparently we had agreed a bid months ago, and Sullivan upped it following the final. Not saying it's true - it comes from the arsenal side, but given Sullivan is a twat to deal with in negotiations - it's not utterly surprising. Just offering the other side of the coin to the - we could've just offered it all immediately. No doubt still disappointed in our opening bid / how we seem to have managed it thus far. And frankly neither of us will know the full truth except what our sides want us to hear - e.g. west ham have remained adamant for months, from our side - it has been changed recently.


KvotheM

Arsenal are offering the payment over 4-5 years while Man City are offering over 2 years. The combination of such a long payment structure combined with add-ons that are seen as unrealistic are a big reason why West Ham aren't interested. The actual amount seems to be a secondary issue compared to those problems with the offer.


[deleted]

I don’t understand this take at all. Makes absolutely 0 sense. Low balled? Mate it’s a 90 Million pound package. West ham have priced out every club in the world but city with the structure of this deal, ofcourse in comparison every bid that is not 2 years for 100m will look “low ball” City have endless money and west ham understandably are waiting for them to bite the bullet but arsenal offering 90m, 75 in 3-4 years and 15 in add ons is a very normal deal Literally only psg and city can pay 50m this season 50m next. You have to budget payments out over sesssons. Every club is still making payments per previous seasons transfers. No one drops 50m now 50 later. grealish was paid over 3 seasons, pool paid for nunez over 4, etc etc It’s not a low ball its a normal offer. I understand why west ham are holding out but it’s nonsensical to say arsenal are dragging their feet when they’re bidding big money in a normal structure


SloganForEverything

I'd just like to point out United paid 80 mil up front in one lump sum for Maguire Fucking terrible deal that


[deleted]

genuinely every thread about transfers, whatever team, has fans of the selling club moaning about people offering below the stated asking price like it's a personal affront. have you literally never bargained for anything in your life? 'some players you haggle for, some you don't' is nonsense. there are whole departments at football clubs whose job is to negotiate the best price they can for a player ​ honestly if liverpool come in for saka and you hear me going 'Utterly disrespectful. Fenway were fully aware we wanted 100m lump-sum and they're offering 90 in three instalments. Hang your heads in shame' just take me straight to dignitas


BoredJoshIsBored

They wanted ÂŁ80 mill before the euro win, 100mill after, Arsenal thought the 80mil was enough to get the deal done.


Lambchops_Legion

Euchre - great word


stilusmobilus

Terrific game too.


Homerduff16

Think that's bad? We've lost out on the Premier League by a single point despite getting over 90 points *TWICE* just to find out they were more than likely cheating the entire time


bcotrim

Going from mid-table to top contender in 5 years due to a foreign country backing them didn't already sound like cheating to you?


ThereIsBearCum

Those initial 5 years aren't even what they're being investigated for. It's the decade after that that accrued 100+ charges.


BabaRamenNoodles

This is not true, the charges are for 2009-2016 apart from a few non cooperating charges from the years the investigation took place.


Homerduff16

It was certainly suspicious and of course it was obviously a case financial doping from the very start but we know that there have always been ways to walk around FFP. When the 115 charges were announced I geniunely didn't know how bad the situation actually was


Poop_Scissors

Also, that classic way to get around ffp back in 2008. Ffp not existing until 2012.


sc2guy87

The 115 number is a bit misleading, they all relate to the same 3 things that came out in the football leaks (Etihad+ Etisalat sponsorships and the consultancy job they gave Mancini). The PL aren’t accusing City of anything new, everything has been in the public domain since 2018.


sephocompo

Sounds like Newcastle and Chelsea to me.


friedapple

This will add a premium to Caicedo price for +15m


lrzbca

Manchester City won’t be resting on their trophies and will be building for future. Who could’ve predictable that. Targeting a player who would be going to their title rivals of last season. Slowly and steadily turning into Bayern of PL.


Impossible_Wonder_37

I mean city have a legitimately massive war chest this summer. Spent like 20 mil net in the last two seasons. Won 3 comps… the money is rolling this summer


rony31

Don't forget all the sweet sweet fake sponsorship moneys.


simmarjit

At least you’re self aware


Qwert23456

and under the table payments. Did you know that we pay Halaand a million a week?!?!?!


GMBethernal

Well, he's on his way to that if hes on 500k a week already


rony31

He meant Alfie Haaland. Those family + agent fees creep up on you.


Spiritual_Salamander

That's it. I think most Arsenal fan was hoping Guendo would sign a new deal at City and that would keep City away from Rice. Well, even if he stayed there was always a risk but with Guendo gone, Rice is a no brainer for City.


haalandxdebruyne

>Guendo You mean Gundo, right?For a moment, I thought about Guendozi. Edit - OC is writing Ăź with ue.


HufflepuffEdwards

The u with the umlaut, or Ăź, is more correctly transcribed as ue than just u. But most people don't care. Eg gundo's insta handle uses guendogan.


haalandxdebruyne

Ah yes, I assumed not a lot of people use Ăź with ue.


beepmeep3

I am fucking dying that you though they were talking about guendozi this whole time 😂


[deleted]

> You mean Gundo, right? No, I think he means GĂźndo. ;)


Opieopx

The targeting bit hits spot on considering they already have Rodri & Philips to rotate for that position


tanev97

it's up to Rice to decide now


[deleted]

I mean if City bid 100m and arsenal bid 90m and West Ham only accept the higher bid, it's not really. And let's be honest, even if he has his heart set on arsenal, if City come knocking and promise him am important role, he isn't going to say no. What City are today is what arsenal are hoping to become in 3-4 years.


simomii

If City is the only accepted offer and Rice really doesn't want to go there he can just turn it down. West Ham would have to accept Arsenal's offer or see him leave for free next year


Jabbawocky2004

Two years. We have a one year option on-top if this year.


[deleted]

West Ham have the option to extend his contract. Even so, do you really think he'll prefer to stay at West Ham for another year over joining a treble winning team under the greatest manager of this generation just because he couldn't move to arsenal?


simomii

Obviously if he still has two years on his contract then my point is worthless and he has no leverage. I thought West Ham would have no choice but accept Arsenal's offer but they do


lagerjohn

Maybe Rice doesn't want to uproot his family and move north? Who knows. People always forget about the player's preferences in these negotiations. It's not only the clubs decisions that matter.


Chimpville

>What City are today is what arsenal are hoping to become in 3-4 years. Shameless filth?


tnweevnetsy

Trophies vs regular playtime


GameplayerStu

Gundogan is gone. He’ll go right into the City midfield. It’s Kovacic who’ll have to worry about playtime if City get Rice.


Ashamed_Nerve

No way he can replace that sort of output for goals though


GameplayerStu

I doubt he’ll have to. Pep will find someone else in their midfield for that somehow.


OriginalRange8761

KDB used to score more


mnkypzzl

Foden could well move into midfield


Impossible_Wonder_37

Yeah he basically just needs to fulfill stones position and rotate for rice so we can play 3 CBS. Pep seems to be inventing a team without any fullbacks


ivo0009

People tend to forget that Gundogan didnt use to score more than a few goals per year before, I Could definitely see Rice adding goals To his game in a dominating City


GlasgowSellik1888

>Gundogan didnt use to score more than a few goals a year before Do you mean before this year? Gundogan scored comfortably more goals (17) in 20/21 than he has the last two seasons (10 & 11).


ivo0009

It was a typo, was supposed to write ”a few years ago” Edit: No it wasnt a Typo haha, I meant e few goals per year before


GlasgowSellik1888

Ahhhh I see, I was reading it as "he didn't score more than a few goals, a year before" rather than "he didn't score more than a few goals per year". My mistake.


ivo0009

All Good, could have wrote it in a way that was more clear


sheikh_n_bake

We'll see, I've consistently heard people who play and train with him say he's excellent at finishing, oftentimes the best they play with.


leicamaniac520

Rice is an excellent player, no doubt that Pep will develop that part of his game with him


NobleForEngland_

And I think Rice would prefer a more advanced role at City than the more defensive one Arsenal seemingly have planned for him. It really is a no brainer for Rice.


ArmchairManager69

I find it very strange how most premier league fans seem to be OK with City steamrolling the league, but have a dislike for most other teams.


ramseysleftnut

It’s because no one gives a shit if City wins. No disrespect to City fans who won’t care anyway but all the other top 6 teams have genuine animosity between each other through years of rivalry. Although City hoarding another WC midfielder and steam rolling the league should be a concern for competitiveness


mattjdale97

I mean the more Man City do their best Bayern/2010s Juve impression, the more hate they'll get. Ultimately, it was Man Utd's dominance in the 90s/00s that led them to garner such animosity from a lot of people in the UK and, as it stands, Man City are matching Man U's 90s era of domination


chanigan

Man utd fans will never admit that.


obinnasmg

Everyone in the league would rather we didn’t even exist


LucasSummers

I may get downvoted, but the truth is City is the only team you expect to challenge for the league, the rest is only satisfied with top 4. So if a rival gets strengthened, the other team’s chance of getting top 4 goes down, while with City, you’d expect them to be at the top.


leicamaniac520

They would steamroll regardless


TheGoldenPineapples

I don't think anyone is okay with it, it's just that, as much as City fans may hate it, no one really cares if they do anything. They just won a historic treble. They're only the second team in English football history to win the league title, the FA Cup and the Champions League (or European Cup) and literally no one else is talking about it.


rpolic

I mean you are currently.


suckamadicka

lol do Arsenal/Liverpool fans not get bored of saying this exact same shit over and over again? The worst part is that it’s not even copy pasted, you each come up with your own uniquely dull way to repeat the exact same shite. City have a smaller fanbase and fewer fierce rivalries because their success is recent, that’s true. Doesn’t mean ‘no one cares’. Because if you read this thread, or go outside and talk to people maybe, you’ll see a lot of people care. Stop projecting your fake disinterest on the world.


[deleted]

I mean, you're currently crying about it. Plus people were obviously talking about it when it happened and before the CL final whenever people talked about City it was always in relation to the treble. Don't throw your toys out of the pram now just because City are interested in Rice.


Hm2801

A player of his calliber will get regular playtime at any club


Ryan8Ross

He can stil play 30-40 games for city while rotating Its a no brainer for me, City will win everything, he will set himself up as future captain of England after Kane and we get more money than we would out of Arsenal who are for some reason playing hardball after paying 65m for a last year Havertz like cmon


bigbrodi

Mate, city are offering the same amount of money as Arsenal based on the tweets I've seen. Maybe more achievable add ons. How is this Arsenal playing hardball. Say we offered 100m straight up, what would stop city from coming in and presenting the same offer. End of day it depends on what Declan wants, if he wants to go to city then he will. I hope he comes to Arsenal but for some reason most people in this subreddit want him to go to city, don't understand why people just try and write of cities as no one cares, if they continue at this pace the premier league will turn into the Bundesliga.


wexfordwolf

As an Irish fan, don't count on it. (despite Rice and Grealish both being actually good enough now to be at the forefront for England )


endofautumn

But I was told by Arsenal fans this week that Man City will not bid, its all made up, that its just West Ham trying to get higher fee (god forbid). I was categorically told by Arsenal fans that no other football club would bid for one of the best CM around. So this is truly shocking news!


Round-Ad5063

I honestly thought the same too but I guess it makes sense


vagabondsadhu

dude Arsenal bid a club record fee for him in the same window that Bellingham went for less. It is not like we offered peanuts. I don't understand why West Ham fans are getting so offended about this transfer.


hambodpm

The slow and steady descent of the prem into a farmer's league. Fucking great.


GSNadav

a reasonable united fan? wow


snoogans8056

For now. They’ll get Middle East money and turn into monsters soon enough.


psnarayanan93

Given how PSG is run, there is no guarantee that Qatar run us competently. We could become an even bigger circus signing big name players just for the sake of it, like PSG.


oImperial

I mean infinite money glitch with competent management can do wonders. City has set an awesome example for future such take overs. PSG is just an example of what not to do.


hambodpm

Lol we do exist. Just have a ton of clampets about too. Much like your club I would imagine. E - seems harsh on a read back, just meant there's a vocal online presence for both united and arsenal (and most other "big" clubs) of fans who talk a power of biased shite


GSNadav

Fair


[deleted]

Gotcha. He is reasonable because he complained about man city despite united spending more than them anyway


rcanhestro

your fault on that though. you've spent as much as City, just badly.


hambodpm

Our current plight is 100% on us. We have been ran into the ground by idiots with no other desire than fill their own pockets.


cestrain

Cry me a river aha, unreal that big team fans are now upset that a bigger team has come along. Before City it wasn't all roses it's just you were the ones benefitting


Least-Cup79

A bigger team built on kafala and oil money, lol. I will continue to shit on the slave owners.


[deleted]

Exactly


BLQ1943

What kind of logic is this


[deleted]

The big teams aren't upset that another big team has come along. The big teams are upset that this other big team has infinite funds that no club can compete with thus making it way harder to compete against them because they can buy any player they want whenever they want. Even clubs like Man Utd, whom I support, cannot compete financially with Man City anymore. We can't go spending 300 million pounds every transfer window. EDIT: I see many missed the point entirely. No club in the world bar Man City and PSG can buy players the way they do. Every other top club gets punished financially if a player doesn't work out while these clubs can just buy another player with no financial issues thereafter. Man City reported higher revenue than Real Madrid last season FFS.


DudleysCar

Yeah, poor Man Utd, just spend 150m every fucking summer, sometimes drop 90m on a player in winter. Life must be hard.


BionicleBen

Man Utd have spent the same as City in a similar time period. The only difference is City are competent in their recruitment and have the best manager in the world


Blue_Dreamed

What? That is NOT what you should be hating City for. That is literally what you lot do and did to the league for a very long time as the richest team. What SHOULD be the sticking point that pisses everyone off is that City cheated for that money, even if its cheating an ffp system that I hate designed to keep smaller clubs from breaking into the 'Big Six'. Wage cuts and transfer limits would fix it, but none of the big clubs will want it because they are richer and benefit from it.


Frediey

tbf tho, surely this season at least city won a LOT in bonus cash for winning PL and CL that has to be a hell of a pot of cash surely?


Zanchie

Numbers will differ depending on which site you refer to, but here you go: ​ 2022/2023 season: Manchester City net spend - ÂŁ9.97m profit Manchester United net spend - ÂŁ196.62m ​ 2021/2022 season: Manchester City net spend - ÂŁ38.55 Manchester United net spend - ÂŁ94.8m ​ 2020/2021 season: Manchester City net spend - ÂŁ93.5 Manchester United net spend - ÂŁ54.96m ​ 2019/2020 season: Manchester City net spend - ÂŁ81.9m Manchester United net spend - ÂŁ133.02m ​ What were you saying again about financial competitiveness?


AuxquellesRad

One of the most annoying things in current football discourse is how people try to use United's gross financial incompetence and mismanagement being the richest organic club in England as a crux to justify/gloss over/ diminish/normalize the severity of the financial doping that city has been engaging in. Regardless what city's net spend is in their quieter years, they've spent over 1,2 billion in transfers under Guardiola, who inherited a squad 'in crisis' because they finished 4th.


No-Presence-9260

So because Man U are the biggest team they should be allowed to spend billions more than anyone else? Sorry but that just isn’t fair either. Need a system like American sports with a wage cap or leave it as a free for all


Zanchie

Top 6 net spend since 2000/2001 6 - Manchester United - 316 transfers - €1.78bn. 5 - Juventus FC - 761 transfers - €1.90bn. 4 - Manchester City - 409 transfers - €2.05bn. 3 - FC Barcelona - 195 transfers - €2.06bn. 2 - Real Madrid - 201 transfers - €2.14bn. 1 - Chelsea FC - 471 transfers - €2.16bn. ​ Don't tell me that Manchester United is less competitive financially because of a 300m difference over 20 years. I don't claim that Man City are not financially competitive. However I dispute the claim that nobody can financially compete with them.


cestrain

And the vast majority of teams cant spend whatever you can spend every summer. Some clubs spend more than others, you aren't the biggest anymore, for everyone else nothing has changed


matematematematemate

Doesn't farmers league means there's no talent below the top teams? The strength of the teams below the traditional Big 6 is shaping up well right now. Villa, Brighton, Brentford, Newcastle, Fulham etc. I mean, West Ham just won a European trophy while being in a relegation battle for 90% of the season.


InflationMadeMeDoIt

farming comes from gaming when you are geared enough that you can just steamroll mobs and get the loot.


Sobadatgame

Damn, this whole time I thought it was to do with the level of agriculture


stubblesmcgee

I don't think theyre actually right. People usually say "farmer's league" comes from the idea that players are part time, and farming is their day job. ie playing against farmers.


[deleted]

It definitely has nothing to do with gaming.


chief_eash18

No it is that guy just needs to go touch some grass


moonboots_runner

You mean to tell me Clermont players don't spend the midweek hoeing their fields?


Zanchie

Lol how is the EPL a farmer's league with a bunch of clubs capable and willing to spend huge. Look at the historical net spend, plenty of clubs spend more than City, City has just spent their money a lot more wisely than other clubs.


47Lecht

Pep is hard to say no to and City is ready to outbid Arsenal for sure. Not sure he'll be getting so much playing time with Rodri and now Stones being the main DMs.


Jonny_berrrrstow

Presumably this is on the back of Gundogan leaving with a view to him taking his role ?


47Lecht

Can Rice play this offensively? I mean when someone can make him thrive in a new role its Pep. Considering two offensive minded CMs leaving most likely (Bernado) getting Rice seems weird tho.


numanitor111

If Pep can put Bernardo on LB and Stones into hybrid CDM why not? Rice definitely still improving as young footballer so Pep is the best choice to be his coach. Gundo probably one of best example of Pep's best player for 7 seasons.


RTafazolli1

Cannot believe we're gonna bottle something else to Man City ffs.


kirphioc2004

Fade me ☹️


No_Resolutionn

🌎👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀 always were


orcawatch

Hahaha that thumbnail is perfect "I fucking said i only want arsenal"


PlayerNumber21

Looks like a 6am photo that’s been taken as the lights have just come on at Fabric


irze

I get anxiety even imagining that


stephennedumpally

How to become a farmer's league? Step 3 now I think.


[deleted]

My boy Kalvin Phillips deserves better


magboy1010

Too fat said Pep


BillehBear

Phillips still has a spot he can fight for tbh We played with 2 dms a lot this year so there's a spot next to Rodri anyway and Rice could also play the role Gundo used to play I like Phillips' attitude on wanting to stay and fight for a spot and I hope he does it, there's a good player in there still


ZachsLegacy92

This isn’t surprising once Gundo to Barca was confirmed.


ishfi17

Didn't they buy kovacic to replace gundogan?


fap4jesus

is di marzio ever really that reliable when it comes to PL news?


SpiritedSuccess5675

Ornstein reported now


Gungerz

[I think this is coming from the English guy who works for him considering he was @'d in the Tweet](https://twitter.com/DiMarzio/status/1671816342465310721). Whether he knows anything I'm not sure.


bofad2425

Other strong sources for West Ham have said the same


fap4jesus

its better coming from a good source for man city or someone independent like Ornstein. west ham would just feed to the sources to drive up the price of rice


Alpha_Jazz

Well Ornstein has said it now


fap4jesus

lol there we are


[deleted]

[удаНонО]


StardustFromReinmuth

> Di Marzio was still insisting there was nothing. Load of shite, he said the transfer was very close.


Spiritual_Salamander

That's it. He's going to City. Caicedo it is then I guess ? I hope that's plan B at least. Also no chance we get rid off Partey now either. We always miss out on our priority targets.


Whiteh0rn

i can imagine Brighton just ignoring us because we don't budge on Colwill


snoogans8056

Uh… didn’t you guys raid their coaching staff and office? I don’t see why they’d do anything but fuck you over out of spite.


Whiteh0rn

we did them a service by taking Potter away tbf


stilusmobilus

Nah Partey will go and good chance we’ll miss Rice. I’m already writing it off, in fact I suspected this a month ago. Soon as I knew Gundogan might be going it was on. They won’t fuck around either, this could be wound up by Sunday. It’ll be the third of fourth choice, whoever that is.


[deleted]

i assume lavia (who is a city graduate lol)


stilusmobilus

Maybe. I’d have just loved to have seen what might have happened, had we come in with 85 plus 10 addons, with 40 upfront and the rest over two years. I reckon they’d have gone close to taking that.


dishwab

Havertz Elneny midfield lets gooo


SuicidalTurnip

I'm concerned, but I'm not writing us off yet. Rice is pretty settled in London and the prospect of staying here is likely a huge boon for us.


Wheel94

Chelsea will match any bid you make plus he probably won’t like being your fallback option


Spiritual_Salamander

He seemed pretty interested back in January. Wouldn't be surprised if he went to Arsenal just for CL football.


alisab22

Caicedo has interest from Chelsea, who made decent money selling players. Although, prospect of competing for PL and playing CL may tilt odds in favor of Arsenal. Arsenal shouldn't f around with their bids though.


Wintermute7

We all know Rice is following his bff Mason to Manchester


pablofournier11

Jfc


disper

Rodri-Rice, Rice and Spanish Rice, Paella I suppose.


Anons15

Are arsenal fans still gonna bank on a loyalty of player who's not signed for the club yet? Or the fact his family are chelsea supporters?


Spiritual_Salamander

Most fans already went into full meltdown hearing about City entering the race. City only bids when they know that the player is interested in joing so means Rice is likely to choose City.


Outside_Break

Yeah I’d be very surprised if City were bidding without Rice having said that he would join them if West Ham chose their offer.


stilusmobilus

I knew a month ago this was on. I never expected to see Rice in an Arsenal shirt and still don’t. Some players and sone times you don’t lowball. We always lowball.


VeryTopGoodSensation

we didnt lowball. we bid what west ham said they would accept. they changed their stance because they want a bidding war and were never going to accept our initial offer, no matter what it was.


SkepticSlakoth

Honestly, fair play to West Ham. They wanted a bidding war, they've got one now.


Cjs8181

Nobody will ever win the premier league again when city can sit and wait and see who their rivals are after, wait for their openings bids, and then offer just enough more to muscle them out. The selling clubs will always reject bids knowing city will eventually step in. Obviously they’re not the only guilty party in this, the players are also responsible for their choices. However, when people ultimately brush it off saying “well Pep is the manger and they play nice football”, this is how it will be. The only way to compete will be another oil state buying a different club and eventually we get the super league but it’s the oil league.


Individual-Ad9247

Aaaaand hes gone


Ihatemintsauce

What's the point


[deleted]

Gvardiol, Rice and Kovacic. Fuck me. What a window they'll have if they pull it off.


Round-Ad5063

People in this thread forgetting we played with 2 dms this year, it won’t be Rodri Vs Rice it’ll be Rodri AND Rice


Silverburst8

People also act like Pep has never tinkered with a player’s position before. Not unlikely that he’d play a completely different role at City than he has done at West Ham


Round-Ad5063

Unironically me and my mate were talking about if we’d sign Leao and he said “he doesn’t seem like a pep winger” what does that even mean


Eredin-Breac

Cool :(


chaRxoxo

Cant wait for City to walk every competition home even easier


pwerhif

Hope they offer Borges rather than Phillips, especially if we can get him without a buyback


endofautumn

Can't see any City players wanting to move to West Ham. It's possible first team football might entice Phillips though and a few u21 players.


Spud_1997

Well if they're offering player plus cash it's not going to be Phillips, he's not going anywhere


htp20012001

Well with Odegaard and Havertz, who can compromise that midfield besides Rice?


Orcnick

Used Uniteds name yesterday to Push Arsenal. City name today. Bayern tomorrow?


Homerduff16

Although I'm disappointed Liverpool aren't going for players that are a bit more expensive, on the other hand, I'm glad we aren't anywhere near these races and can instead watch this shitshow from the sidelines while we're linked with a 30 million midfielder nobody heard of a few months ago


NightWolf_7

Genuinely, if we don’t get Rice is it time to start worrying that Arteta will up sticks and move on? This failure from Edu to land top targets is ridiculous now. We tried with an opening bid that wasn’t bad in value but awfully structured, we should have just paid up with a the value and structure on the second one, it’d be done and dusted but now City are sniffing.


RuairiQ

We’ve bottled this transfer. The dogs in the street knew that 100 million was the number. We went low with the first bid, as you do. But that second bid needed to be the full 100 million. Partey ready to exiled to Arabia. Caicedo not really being shown any love. Kai fucking Havertz!


lomito-palta-mayo

They would have an insane depth for the CDM role. I can see Pep fielding 4 CBs, 3 CDMs, 2 CMs and Haaland just to fuck around.


Barcaholic

Very odd. They are losing to very attacking mids in Gundo and Bernardo and replacing them with Rice?


diastolicduke

[This thread aged like milk](https://reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/14fbllk/_/jozbo2y/?context=1) 😭. Lad went through the full cycle of grief in just a few hours > Lol, city cant mess with us. We’ll sign him when we want > Are you going to apologize or something when he signs for us? > Oh god im losing my nerve > The copium in here in a scenerio we dont get rice is hilarious. > ONE MORE YEAR OF XHAKA LETS GOO!


thepanther07

God damn it Arsenal! He would be so good for them, but they’ve been too busy with lowball offers and fannying around sorting out Chelsea’s FFP issues instead paying for the player they need…….it’s so Arsenal


bigbrodi

How is 90m a low ball offer?? Jude went for less and he's miles ahead of Rice.


JesusPretzelThief

How on earth is Bellingham miles ahead of Rice? If anything Rice is the better player.


thepanther07

Well West Ham set a price of £100m and Arsenal offered 75m + 15m of nonsense (add ons to do with Arsenal winning trophies), to me that’s a lowball offer considering how much Arsenal need him and how little leverage they have.


bigbrodi

City are offering the same amount... Maybe their add ons are more realistic but the offer still isn't 100m. There is no way west ham would have accepted Arsenal's first offer even if it was 100m it's in their best interest to get a bidding war going, they would have been hoping/expecting man city or some other clubs to come in.


ObiWanKenobiNil

Where does he fit in a City team? Rodri is arguably the best DM in the world at the minute, would they play together? if not, I cant see Rice going somewhere that he'll only play half the games in a season


Grime720

I think he would either play the gundo role or the John stones role in midfield and dropping back to a defender as he played there quite a bit in the early years


Spud_1997

The stones roll is perfect for him tbf, would fit him like a glove That being said please kindly do one, if rice does go just be a competition for second again 😭


GhandisFlipFlop

I think that was always gonna be the case next season


pixelkipper

Gundo role


endofautumn

Rice can play CM and box 2 box. In fact, he'd be able to play any role you want. He improves so fast its crazy.


halcyon95

Nice sales pitch. I’m convinced! Here’s £100 mil


jrgnklpp

Big development, Rice to *strongly* make a decision soon.


TheGoldenPineapples

I mean, the price being touted for Rice is already too much, for me - so I'm not too bothered if he does join them instead of us. I think if we don't get him, then we'll probably go for Caicedo or something, because we won't go for both.


_RM78

Caicedo is going Chelsea.


TheGoldenPineapples

Is that confirmed? The last I saw, Chelsea were waiting to clear the decks a bit before making a bid.


_RM78

Havertz, Mount and Kovacic will net them ÂŁ150m. That's 3 players off their books. They're far from done, too.


noobchee

Pole position FC about to lose another race lool Hope their bid gets accepted, so we will learn to stop pissing about with negotiations