Arsenal’s £105m Declan Rice bid is NOT accepted as West Ham tell Gunners to improve deal’s structure

West Ham have not immediately accepted Arsenal’s mega £105million formal offer for Declan Rice.

The Gunners last night tabled a huge third bid for their No 1 target, comprising of £100million in guaranteed cash plus an extra £5million in bonuses.

However, the offer has not been accepted with well-placed sources indicating that negotiations are continuing, mainly over the structure of the deal.

As Mail Sport revealed earlier this month, the Hammers want the guaranteed portion of the fee paid by the start of 2025, preferably in two instalments.

It is understood that Arsenal want to pay the fee over a five-year period.

Arsenal have submitted a bid of more than £100m for Declan Rice (left) – with Mikel Arteta (right) desperate to get his No 1 target this summer

Rice is expected to leave West Ham this summer after guiding them to the Europa Conference League

And talks over reaching a middle ground with regards to the structure of the deal will continue on Wednesday morning with Arsenal desperate to reach an agreement as they seek to clinch Rice’s capture.

Their offer exceeds West Ham’s £100m valuation for the England star.

News of Arsenal’s mega bid comes after Manchester City’s first offer for the Hammers captain, which comprised of £80million in guaranteed cash and a further £10million in add-ons, was formally turned down by the Hammers on Tuesday.

With Arsenal now much closer to sealing an agreement with West Ham after seeing their previous two offers rejected, City could yet seek to gazump the Gunners with an improved bid of their own for Rice.

Manchester United are also interested in Rice, but are viewed as outsiders in the race.

United would prefer to use fringe players as makeweights in the deal; with Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay of interest to Hammers head coach David Moyes.