Arsenal Transfer News: SHOCK Rice development, Lavia LATEST and PSG star SIGNS

Graham Shaw

Updated: 27 Jun 2023 19:10 BST
5 min read

West Ham's Declan Rice has agreed personal terms with Arsenal — © ProShots

The Declan Rice saga is likely to run and run with Arsenal battling Manchester City to sign the England midfielder from West Ham.

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There will be plenty of twists along the way, but it’s unlikely we’ll get many more unexpected that the one Eni Aluko provided on Tuesday.

The former England Lionesses striker old talkSPORT she doesn’t actually believe Man City want Rice - instead she claims it’s a case of Pep Guardiola helping his old pal Mikel Arteta get a deal over the line.

“I think there’s a lot of cat and mouse going on here,” she said. “As a sporting director I used to do this a lot.

“I used to call up a club, a big club, and say, ‘right can you put a bid in’ and that would basically force my owner to put a higher bid in.

“I don’t think Manchester City actually want to sign Declan Rice, I think what’s going on is Arteta has picked up the phone to Pep [Guardiola] and said ‘listen, Arsenal are going to do the incremental bid approach, if you put a higher bid in, that will push my owner.”

Romeo Lavia: Gunners fall behind in race to sign Southampton star

Chelsea and Liverpool have overtaken Arsenal in the race to sign Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia, FootballTransfers understands.

Arsenal had been favourites to buy the Belgian midfielder this summer, with the Gunners and manager Mikel Arteta huge admirers of the 19-year-old.

Arteta sees Lavia as the ideal replacement for Thomas Partey, should the former Atletico Madrid midfielder leave the club ahead of next season.

The north London side have already held talks over signing Lavia and were believed to be well positioned to buy the player who is valued at around £40m.

However, FootballTransfers has learned that Arsenal now risk losing out on Lavia to Liverpool or Chelsea. The reason for this is because of the time it is taking to complete the signing of Rice and the sale of Partey.

Arsenal cannot and will not complete a move for Lavia until Rice and Partey’s deals are resolved.

The Gunners have had two official bids for Rice rejected by West Ham, with Man City now formally entering the race for the England international.

City had their own bid rejected this week, with Arsenal now set to return to make a third bid closer to West Ham’s £100m asking price. All this has delayed Arsenal’s move for Lavia, who they cannot sign anyway until they offload Partey.

Ethan Nwaneri deadline looms as Arsenal fight to keep WONDERKID

Arsenal face a major battle to keep teenage WONDERKID Ethan Nwaneri with a crucial deadline now just days away.

Nwaneri’s schoolboy registration runs out on Friday, and the Gunners are racing against time to agre scholarship terms with the 16-year-old before then. According to

" target="_blank">The Standard, they have tabled an ‘attractive’ offer but face stiff competition for his services from Premier League rivals Manchester City and Chelsea.

The attacking midfielder came to the wider attention of Arsenal fans last September, when he became the Premier League’s youngest ever player. He was just 15 years and 181 days old when he came on as substitute in a 3-0 Premier League defeat of Brentford.

Arteta plans £100m transfer boost as stars earmarked for Emirates exit

Arsenal are set to spend big this summer - particularly if they succeed in landing Declan Rice from West Ham. But manager Mikel Arteta is planning to recoup a good portion of that huge outlay.

According to The Mirror, Arteta hopes to bring in £100m through player sales in the next three months.

The tabloid reports that Arsenal would hope to command a fee of at least £35m for striker Folarin Balogun, who would face extra competition with the arrival of Kai Havertz from Chelsea.

Midfielder Thomas Partey meanwhile is expected to depart (for less than £20m) while Grant Xhaka is set to join Bayer Leverkusen for around £13m.

Another forward in the shape of Eddie Nketiah is also likely to draw interest, with Crystal Palace long-term admirers. The Gunners would be looking for £20m at least for the 24-year-old.

Fabrizio Romano reveals Jorginho future plan

Jorginho, it appears, will still be an Arsenal player next season.

While Arteta may be looking to boost his summer transfer kitty with some major sales, it does not sound like the 31-year-old Brazilian midfielder will be one of them.

Jorginho has been linked recently with a move to Serie A and Lazio, but Romano says the player’s agent has scuppered those rumours.

The official line from the Jorginho camp is quite simple - “It’s not about the interest of Lazio or their budget… I can confirm that Jorginho is very happy at Arsenal”

PSG star Ilestedt SIGNS as Gunners complete first summer transfer

Arsenal completed their first summer signing on Tuesday as Swedish international defender Amanda Ilestedt arrived at the Emirates.

Ilestedt makes the move to north London after a two-year spell with French giants PSG. Previously the defender - who has 64 international caps - had enjoyed a stint at Bayern Munich.