Declan Rice's priority remains to join Arsenal instead of Manchester City.
West Ham will allow Rice, 24, to leave the London Stadium this summer but want at least £100million for him. City are prepared to spend that cash to land the England international after paying £100m to sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa two years ago.
Arsenal have already made two bids for Rice, yet both of them have been rejected. Their most recent offer was £90m, with £75m of that paid up front. The Gunners are expected to make a third bid shortly in a bid to beat City to his signature.
Here, Mirror Football takes a look at the three key reason why Rice is prepared to say no to Pep Guardiola's Treble winners for a career at Arsenal.
Home is where the heart is
As reported by The Guardian, one of the main reasons why Rice wants to join Arsenal is because it allows him to stay in London around his family and friends. The midfielder was born and raised in the London town of Kingston upon Thames and would have to move up north to play for City.
Rice started his football career at Chelsea before joining West Ham when the Blues released him in 2014. It would be a big decision for the Londoner to say goodbye to his hometown when there is a local club who can offer him Champions League football.
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Rice's love for Kingston was obvious during his interview with Gary Neville for The Overlap. The West Ham skipper showed Neville around his local park and pointed out the football pitches where he spent much of his childhood playing with friends.
The in-demand star said: "It's always nice to come back... I've still got a lot of friends [who live here] that I still see to this day, and I think it's so important to stay connected to this place because it played a massive part in my childhood."
Rice even admitted that he came back to Kingston the week before the interview to play snooker out of boredom. He won't be able to do that in Manchester.
Rice said: "I got home and my dad was sat in the office and I said, 'I'm going to go over and play snooker'. And he said, 'Yeah, go on do it'. It was good to come over, I spent an hour and a half just playing snooker and having a chat, general catch up. It was amazing."
Guaranteed minutes
If Rice moves to City, he may struggle to break into Guardiola's starting XI. Rodri, Kalvin Phillips, Kevin De Bruyne and Maximo Perrone are Guardiola's current central midfield options. Mateo Kovacic is also set to arrive from Chelsea, with Ilkay Gundogan expected to depart.
It's a different situation at Arsenal. Although Mikel Arteta has Thomas Partey, Jorginho, Granit Xhaka, Fabio Vieira, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Mohamed Elneny at his disposal, not all of those players will still be at the Emirates when the summer is over.
Xhaka is expected to join Bayer Leverkusen, while Partey is wanted by Juventus and clubs in Saudi Arabia. Rice is a much better player than Vieira, Lokonga and Elneny and will have no trouble in getting into Arsenal's midfield if Xhaka and Partey leave.
But if Rodri, De Bruyne and Kovacic are at the Etihad next season, will Rice get in Guardiola's midfield? Maybe not.
Appreciation for Arteta
Rice has made no secret of his admiration for Arteta, insisting Arsenal are "coached incredibly well". That's not to say Guardiola isn't one of the best managers in the world, of course, but it's clear Arteta is a coach Rice would like to play for one day.
Speaking after Arsenal's 3-1 win against West Ham at the Emirates in December, Rice said: "They [Arsenal] are a top team you can see they are coached incredibly well, have a lot of attacking talent, a young squad."
Rice also waxed lyrical about Arteta in his programme notes for the return fixture at the London Stadium in April, which ended in a 2-2 draw. He said: "[Arsenal] have had a strong season and have now got a real identity to the way they play under Mikel Arteta.
"I obviously know a few of their players from England and they are not only top-class on the pitch but good boys off it - but of course those friendships will go out the window when we kick-off... we know Arsenal are a top team."
