Yep. Great news.

Rumors of spuds and newcastle fighting over Maddison.

West Ham want to use their Rice money to sign Ward-Prowse, Harvey Barnes and Edson Alvarez from Ajax. Hopefully motivates them to finish the Rice deal swiftly.

Lazio and Sarri want Jorginho with the promise of a long-term contract. Dont see Arsenal letting him go unless they have another midfielder coming in besides Rice, so could be one to watch withCaicedo. I like Jorginho but I would be ok with that "trade".

I saw 2 things on West Ham yesterday. They want most of the Rice money up front and another rumor that they want to drag it out a little bit to create a bit of a bidding war

Ive seen runor that ManU ($$$) & Bayern (dont have a shot) have backed off and City is likely not to pursue unless Rodri asks to leave. Doesnt really leave much competition. Ive also read that we are one of the few teams that could comply with the request for most of the cash up front.

Agreed. They've acknowledged he's leaving. It sounds like we've put together a pretty acceptable offer for him. Getting it done quickly is good for both parties

Charles Watts said today that West Ham may want Emile Smith Rowe as part of the Rice deal

Dont see that happening

Don't see us selling ESR either. Arteta has shown a willingness to take it slow with certain younger players (like Saliba) and I think he has a specific role for ESR.

Tell y'all what though. Damn glad we never ended up with Lauturo Martinez. He was awful today

🚨 Arsenal are moving for Timothy Castagne. Open contact between Arsenal and Leicester City. The move to could be sealed quickly. Reports, @sachatavolieri. pic.twitter.com/gWtcQ2XeSQ

— Eduardo Hagn (@EduardoHagn) June 11, 2023

Not sure I get the Castagne move (assuming it is true). He is more of a WB style FB that we seem to be moving away from.

Not to mention he's been pretty meh since moving to the PL. I seem to recall us wanting him when he was in Italy

Dear Stanley Kroenke, Arsenal is next, right?

CoolAggie said:

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Dear Stanley Kroenke, Arsenal is next, right?

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Hope so. Kroenke Sports have been on a roll.

• Rams 2021 Super Bowl
• Nuggets 2023 NBA Champs
• Colorado Avalanche 2022 Stanley Cup Champs
• Colorado Mammoth 2022 National Lacrosse Champs

They've won Championships in 4 leagues over the last 2 year

I NEED to hear Josh Kroenke repeat these words about the Arsenal next season! ❤️pic.twitter.com/yL2BoBWVvz

— AK Arsenal (@akarsenalnews) June 13, 2023

Apparently our interest in Kai Havertz is real. Doesn't really make much sense to me. He's been pretty terrible since going to Chelsea and I don't want to help Chelsea clear their books.

I hate giving chelski money, but he is 6'4" and would give us something different up front

May be an opportunistic move. They are asking 75m. Everything I have seen claims that we won't pay that price. Also seeing some suggestions that Chelsea have to clear somewhere between 125-300m from the books before 6/30 or they will be in trouble with FFP and have an extremely limited budget this summer. May be an opportunity to sign a 24yo with upside for 40-50m.

Also seeing lots of mixed info on where Arteta may envision Havertz playing. Some have suggested based on his time at Leverkusen that he may be a very good fit to replace Xhaka.

Already some buzz about "flexibility" in the Havertz valuation. Supposedly Real have interest but (a) have other priorities first and (b) won't offer more than 50m euro.

Unfortunately Chelsea are in a position where we have to accept the offers we get, wherever they are from. We need to balance the books, reduce squad size, and buy more players. I guess it’s needs must. Offers are not flooding in.

— Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport) June 14, 2023

Havertz news (Ornstein reporting so we know it's legit) is super interesting. My first reaction is "hell no" but Arteta/Edu's player evaluations have been very good. And yeah I think he could play left 8 or be a bigger Striker. He's widely recognized as a talented guy. Could be a good piece of business at the right price.

But if it prevents us from getting Caicedo, I definitely don't want.

Already on the USMNT thread, but Patrick Viera to become USMNT coach?

agdoc2001 said:

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Already on the USMNT thread, but Patrick Viera to become USMNT coach?

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Maybe he can convince Flo to stick it out and fight for a place at Arsenal

Sounds like we made an opening bid of 80m + 10m for Rice and it was almost instantly rejected. Not surprising to try and go low on the first offer.

This has been immediately followed up with all the journalists saying that City are preparing to enter the race for Rice (which I think means West Ham leaked that to help drive up price). That said, if there is one team I'm worried about getting in a bidding war for Rice, its them because they can offer immediate success and way higher salary.

I do think the entire summer probably hinges on this deal so they need to get this over the line ASAP.

The Times is reporting that we are pulling out of going for Caicedo

Arsenal forums everywhere are on full meltdown with all the news today

• Rice bid declined
• City rumored to be coming in for him
• Us willing to spend a major chunk of money on Havertz
• Now us pulling out of the Caicedo race

I don't see City being a player for Rice. They have Rodri & Philips at DM and are working on Kovacic as a Gundogan replacement. Think this is West Ham trying to put pressure on us because they know we are the only player.

Pulling out of the Caicedo race isn't a shock to me. I've been saying for awhile that I felt we were not legit interesting in signing both. I always felt that Caicedo was the backup plan. So news that we are pulling out makes me feel like we feel that Rice is wrapped up.

chjoak said:

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I don't see City being a player for Rice. They have Rodri & Philips at DM and are working on Kovacic as a Gundogan replacement. Think this is West Ham trying to put pressure on us because they know we are the only player.

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I 100% agree with this. It absolutely smells of West Ham creating a rumor to build pressure on a bigger bid. There has been almost no noise about City going for Rice until right after our first bid.

Seeing some claims/speculation that we pulled out of the Caicedo race to grease the wheels for Havertz (ie Chelsea agree to sell cheaper if we back off Caicedo). Not 100% sure I agree with that but it would make some sense.

News coming out that the 80+10 was rejected because of the terms... +10 terms were seen as unrealistic and the 80 was structured to be paid out over 6yrs while West Ham want a good chunk up front.

chjoak said:

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I don't see City being a player for Rice. They have Rodri & Philips at DM and are working on Kovacic as a Gundogan replacement. Think this is West Ham trying to put pressure on us because they know we are the only player.

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ding, ding, ding...

Anything can happen in football (players have had medicals then signed elsewhere), but I’ve been told categorically again Rice intends to sign for Arsenal.

City interest has been leaked by West Ham which has annoyed #afc but expectation is deal gets closed around £92m + add ons

— AFCAMDEN (@AFCAMDEN) June 15, 2023