Despite the news which broke yesterday about Manchester City’s opening bid for Declan Rice, Arsenal and Mikel Arteta remain confident that the player will get his move to Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta has already started to plan for life with Declan Rice in the dressing room, so he won’t be put off by City’s competition. In fact, the Spanish boss is likely to use this as fuel for his fire, since he knows that his friend Pep Guardiola only chases the best of the best. Even more reason to sign Rice, then.
Arsenal see Declan Rice as the future captain
According to the latest report from the Daily Mail, Declan Rice is viewed as a likely contender to take the captain’s armband in the future. While he won’t become captain immediately with Martin Odegaard taking the role, he will certainly join the leadership right away which grants him the potential to become captain later down the line.
We know that Declan Rice has plenty of leadership qualities, which is why he’s likely to take Granit Xhaka’s place in the leadership team. With the involvement of Rice, the leadership team would be Odegaard, Rice and Gabriel Jesus. Say what you want about Arsenal, but that’s a great calibre of players to lead the rest of the squad.
Further, the report claims that Arsenal are set to submit a third bid to West Ham, after their opening two bids were both rejected. This means that the Hammers are likely to stall Man City’s opening bid because they may believe Arsenal’s improved offer will be closer to their valuation.
Certainly there is no reason to lose hope as an Arsenal fan. In the worst case scenario, there are options like Moises Caicedo being considered. However, Arteta won’t consider this scenario since his heart is set on signing Rice.