Man City's brave Declan Rice call should help Jack Grealish reach another level

Declan Rice moving to Arsenal makes perfect sense.

Arsenal have let Granit Xhaka go, so need a new defensive midfielder. They have ambitions of improving collectively, and need a quality player to pull the strings at the base of midfield, while still being of a technical standard that will work in Mikel Arteta's system. Rice will want to be playing in the Champions League, challenging for the Premier League title, and playing every week to maintain his place for England ahead of Euro 2024.

Joining Arsenal ticks all of those boxes, plus the bonus factor that he won't even have to move house. Had he joined Manchester City, he would be in direct competition with Rodri and Mateo Kovacic, not to mention Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Kalvin Phillips.

He will become the most expensive English player in the Premier League, and had he joined a few weeks earlier, he would have been the most expensive English player ever, but Jude Bellingham took that title when he became a Real Madrid player.

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City bid £90m for Rice, but drew the line at £105m. They have a history of walking away from players when the bidding exceeds the club's own valuations, so Rice joins the likes of Harry Maguire, Alexis Sanchez, Fred, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella and more as players who have gone elsewhere after City withdrew from a bidding war.

Only Jorginho, who ultimately chose to join Chelsea, can arguably be classed as a player who has proved to be one that got away - although City will be happy they waited for Rodri.

Instead, City prefer to activate release clauses, rather than be pitted against another club when an asking price can rise rapidly