After dropping a £90 million deal for West Ham United skipper Declan Rice on Tuesday, treble winners Manchester City have decided to stop their pursuit of the England midfielder.

Declan Rice, who has a year left on his contract at the London club, stated at the end of last season that he would be leaving the UEFA Europa Conference League winners after leading them to a victory over Fiorentina in Prague, Czech Republic.

Since then, he has been linked with a move to Arsenal, who have now gone ahead to submit their third bid, which is around £105 million pounds, to West Ham United with the hope of signing him.

Manchester City’s withdrawal from the race will come as good news for the Gunners head coach, Mikel Arteta, who is strongly interested and keen on bringing Rice to the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal’s first two bids were both less than £100 million, and both were rejected by West Ham United. Now Manchester City has said they will not match Arsenal’s £105 million bid for the 24-year-old, who still has the option to extend his contract till 2025.

This may be linked to the fact that Manchester City has signed Matthew Kovacic from Chelsea in a £25 million deal with an add-on of 5 million from Chelsea with an announcement and official unveiling on Tuesday.

This is after Ilkay Gundogan moved to Barcelona on a free transfer after completing the Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League treble.

Meanwhile, Rice to Arsenal may become the British most expensive transfer if successful, as the initial £100M will equal Jack Grealish’s move to Manchester City. Rice scored 15 goals in 245 games for West Ham, having debuted in the 2016-17 season.

He has 41 caps for England, playing five of their matches at the last FIFA World Cup.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu