Declan Rice completes £105m move from West Ham United to Arsenal

Declan Rice has finally completed his £105 million move from West Ham United to Arsenal.

The England midfielder had been the subject of two previous bids by the Gunners – and one by treble winners Manchester City – that were all turned down by West Ham.

But Arsenal made Rice, 24, their key target of the summer and returned with a third and final offer of £100 million, plus a further £5 million in add-ons, that was accepted.

The deal beats Arsenal's previous record transfer – £72 million forked out to Lille for Nicolas Pepe in 2019 – and moves Rice ahead of Three Lions teammate Jack Grealish (who moved from Aston Villa to Manchester City for £100 million in 2021) as the most expensive English player of all time.

Speaking to the Arsenal website following the confirmation of his move, Rice said he was determined to take his game to another level with the Gunners.

"In football, amazing opportunities arise. Big clubs, like Arsenal, have come for me and it's really hard to turn down," Rice said.

"You only ever get one career and I really believe in what [manager] Mikel [Arteta] is building here and the squad he's building. I'm really looking forward to the future with Arsenal.

"With Mikel and how he works, the squad, how young everyone is, the energy around the club and also the challenge of getting Arsenal back to where they belong, that means a lot to me."

He becomes Arsenal's third signing of the summer after German forward Kai Havertz's £65 million move across London from rivals Chelsea as they look to improve on last year's second-place finish behind champions Manchester City, despite topping the table for much of the campaign.

On Friday, the Gunners completed a £34 million deal for 22-year-old Ajax central defender