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Declan Rice in the jersey of his former club West Ham United

Photo: JEFF PACHOUD / AFP

+++ FIX +++

Rice leaves West Ham for Arsenal

Declan Rice's record-breaking transfer to Arsenal is perfect. Five hours after West Ham United officially announced the departure of the England international, the Gunners also made the deal public. Rice has signed a "long-term contract" with Arsenal, the London club announced. Arsenal did not go into the amount of the transfer fee.

According to British media, both clubs have agreed on a sum of 105 million pounds (121.8 million euros). This would make the defensive midfielder the most expensive British professional footballer. This record had previously been held by Jack Grealish, who moved from Aston Villa to Manchester City in 2021 for 117.5 million euros. For West Ham, it is also the largest transfer income the Premier League club has ever received for a player.

West Ham had already announced the departure of their top performer "for a British record transfer fee" on Saturday morning. Rice will now be team-mate of Germany international Kai Havertz, who also joined Arsenal from Chelsea this summer.

Before Rice had agreed a transfer with Arsenal, several clubs had been interested in signing him. Most recently, Manchester City is said to have dropped out of the bidding. FC Bayern Munich was also said to be interested in Rice. He played a total of 245 competitive games for West Ham and won the Conference League with the club last season.

+++ RUMORS +++

Is Mané's future in Saudi Arabia?

Cristiano Ronaldo's employer Al-Nassr is said to have held initial talks about a possible transfer of Bayern Munich's Sadio Mané. The German record champions have given the Saudi club the green light for negotiations with the Senegalese attacker, the portal »Ariadhiah« reported, citing unnamed sources. Bayern are said to have called for 30 million euros as a transfer fee.

According to the »Kicker«, the Munich team have already informed Mané that he no longer plays a role in the plans for the new season. In the case of the 31-year-old, it is also about saving his salary in order to be able to use it elsewhere, it said.

Most recently, it had been reported that several Saudi clubs were interested in Mané. Al-Nassr has been courting Mané for some time and has now intensified its efforts again, it was said. Club boss Ahmed Al-Ghamdi had met with a representative of Mané.

However, the world governing body Fifa has imposed a transfer ban on the club for the time being because it has not yet made payments for some transfers. Only when these debts have been settled, Al-Nassr can sign players again, Fifa announced.

Union is said to be interested in Volland

In search of reinforcements for the Champions League, Union Berlin is reportedly interested in signing ex-national player Kevin Volland. The Bundesliga club have already held talks with the 30-year-old striker about a move, reported the TV channel Sky. The former Leverkusen player Volland has been playing for AS Monaco for three years and still has a contract there until mid-2024. A transfer fee of six to seven million euros is being traded.

Volland played 15 international matches for the national team. His last appearance was in the 4-1 win in Armenia in November 2021. In the case of the Berliners, he could also be a possible replacement for the courted Sheraldo Becker, if he should leave Union this summer.

According to Sky, VfL Wolfsburg is also considering signing Volland. Current VfL coach Niko Kovač knows the attacker from his time as coach in Monaco.

mfu/sid/dpa