Declan Rice has been given permission to have his Arsenal medical as the first big transfer saga of the summer comes to an end.
The England midfielder had always been the Gunners number one target, but after seeing several bids rejected, and Manchester City enter the race to sign him, his future remained in doubt.
That was before Arsenal returned with a new bid of £100million guaranteed, plus £5 million in add-ons, a record for a British player.
After City indicated they were not prepared to match that valuation for the player, West Ham finally decided to accept the offer.
Rice himself has always made it clear that his preference was to stay in London and sign for Arsenal.
There is still work to do on the structure of the deal – West Ham want the money paid over a shorter time period than the Gunners are currently proposing. But that is a technicality to be ironed out in final negotiations.
