Arsenal have forgotten weapon to get £105m Declan Rice deal finalised

Arsenal and West Ham are still yet to come to a complete agreement over the structure of the deal for Declan Rice’s move to the Emirates. The Gunners had a £105million bid accepted by West Ham but there are still ongoing conversations about how the fee will be paid in instalments.

Arsenal’s offer includes a £100m base fee plus £5m worth of add-ons. They are keen to spread out the guaranteed payment over a five-year period. However, the Hammers want their money far quicker and are demanding the base fee be paid in full by 2025.

Arsenal will now look for ways to cut down the price and could explore the possibility of sending Nuno Tavares the other way to help facilitate the deal. According to reports from the i Paper, West Ham are interested in signing the Portuguese left-back.

Tavares had an extremely underwhelming opening campaign at Arsenal after joining the club for £8m in the summer of 2021. This season he was shipped off to Marseille on loan where he showed signs of promise.

He bagged six goals from full-back and came away with very productive attacking statistics yet it wasn’t enough to entice the Ligue 1 side into extending his stay. Lions boss Igor Tudor once claimed that he was “good enough to play for Barcelona” but there were also reports that he had been dropped for not putting enough effort into training.

Arsenal are hoping to offload the player this summer and have reportedly received approaches from multiple Premier League sides with West Ham showing the most interest out of all of the teams in the race for his signature. Tavares is hoping to stay in England and would no doubt be happy with the prospect of Europa League football next season with West Ham.

If Arsenal can add Tavares as part of their bid for Rice then they may be able to save up to £15m on base fees. Tavares’ contract with the north Londoners is set to expire in the summer of 2026.

Add to that his much-improved displays at Marseille and Arsenal could be on their way to making decent profit margins on the 23-year-old.