Declan Rice will be an Arsenal player. With the whole transfer drama and the inability to settle the payment structures, I think West Ham are just doing all they can to fine tune Arsenal’s offer and perhaps see what Manchester City has got in store. But they believe Manchester City won’t go much higher than their 1st bid and they also know the player’s preference: Arsenal.
Arsenal's interest is huge and this is used by West Ham to set a high price and in my opinion that is reasonable because Declan Rice is a player who has good abilities and is also very young so this player is a suitable team investment for the future.
Arteta is targeting Rice as their main recruit this season, I don't understand why Arteta likes this player so much even though Arsenal's midfield is currently occupied by several players who have very good quality.
Declan Rice is a player that any team would be willing to pay any price to acquire because of his ability to distribute the ball in a way that would highlight Arsenal's great play. I think Arsenal currently has a midfielder, but I also think they need another one, and Rice would be a good choice.
Arsenal hasn't won a trophy for a while now, and just as they were about to win the Premier League in 2022–2023, Manchester City took it away. This happened because Arsenal's midfield players aren't strong enough to play the way the league starts, but adding another midfielder will benefit the team's performance in the upcoming season