‘Given how they negotiated Mudryk’: Journalist makes interesting claim about Arsenal and Declan Rice

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Arsenal could be looking to get Declan Rice on a cut-price deal according to Miguel Delaney.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Back Pages Podcast, Delaney has been discussing Rice’s future after reports this week that West Ham want around £120m for the midfielder.

Of course, as you can imagine, Arsenal don’t want to spend that much on Rice, and according to Delaney, the Gunners may well try to be shrewd here just as they were when negotiating deals for Mykhaylo Mudryk and Moises Caicedo in January.

Arsenal to adopt shrewd approach

Delaney shared what he knows about the Gunners’ move for Rice.

“Rice can go, and we’ve known this for some time, that Rice can go but it’s going to be for quite a high price, from £90m to £120m. There are questions around whether or not the big six or Newcastle, who are interested, will go to that price considering his contract. Arsenal have been cast as the most serious potential buyers, but given how they negotiated Mudryk and Caicedo in January, they’re going to be shrewd on this,” Delaney said.

Could backfire

Delaney compared Arsenal’s approach for Rice to their approach for both Mudryk and Caicedo, and that’s not a good sign.

Indeed, what do both Caicedo and Mudryk have in common? Neither of them play for Arsenal.

It’s all well and good saying that Arsenal are going to try and be savvy and make transfers below market value, but time and time again, that approach has led to the Gunners missing out on top targets.

Arsenal do need to be clever in terms of where they spend their money this summer, but they do have to push the boat out if they want to land truly elite players such as Caicedo or Rice.