July 12th 2023.
West Ham United have grown increasingly frustrated with Arsenal's transfer dealings regarding Declan Rice. It has been almost a week since Arsenal agreed to pay West Ham a fee of £100million plus £5m in add-ons, but there has been no announcement of an agreement being in place.
The Hammers are becoming increasingly concerned that the hold-up is preventing them from making any new signings of their own. According to The Sun, there is a 'bitter taste' over the way Arsenal have conducted the deal. David Moyes had made Leicester City winger Harvey Barnes a priority target, but West Ham have been unable to launch a bid and now look set to miss out to Newcastle United.
The Hammers are also keen to acquire Joao Palhinha from Fulham as a potential replacement for Rice, but fear that they will be priced out due to the high transfer fee they are expecting to receive. Rice is currently training in Portugal, and is waiting for the go-ahead to fly to north London to complete his move.
West Ham are not expecting Rice to return to training if the transfer continues to drag on, but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is still hopeful of getting the deal done in time for Rice to join the squad when they fly to the US for their pre-season tour this Sunday. In the meantime, West Ham are stuck in limbo, unable to move forward with their own transfer targets.
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