West Ham given promise Rice paperwork will be finalised today

West Ham given promise Rice paperwork will be finalised today

Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber are set to take Arsenal's summer spending beyond £200m - but paperwork delay frustrating West Ham;Both Timber and Rice could sign before squad departs for US tour on Sunday; Arsenal have also signed Kai Havertz for £65m

West Ham have been promised the paperwork for the transfer of Declan Rice will be signed and delivered on Friday.




The £105m deal was agreed eight days ago but it has not been signed yet, with Sky Sports News reporting earlier this week that West Ham are becoming increasingly frustrated by the delay.

The hold-up is being caused by delays with paperwork being drawn up by Arsenal's lawyers.

As far as West Ham are aware, Rice has passed his Arsenal medical. He has been training regularly on holiday in Portugal.




Arsenal are hopeful of completing the signing of Rice before the squad flies to the USA for their pre-season tour on Sunday.

The deal is broken down into an initial payment of £100m with £5m in add-ons and will eclipse Arsenal's previous record purchase, which is currently Nicolas Pepe from Lille for £72m in 2019.










Rice's signing will be just short of the British transfer record, which was set by Chelsea when they paid Benfica £106.8m for Enzo Fernandez in January.

Arsenal are also expected to confirm the signing of Jurrien Timber, who has completed his medical ahead of his £38m transfer from Ajax and the paperwork is being finalised on a long-term contract.

The Gunners will pay £34m up front for Timber, with the remainder of the fee made up in performance-related add-ons.




Timber is being signed as a right-back - a role that was predominantly fulfilled by Ben White last season - but can also play at centre-back, and has previously attracted interest from Manchester United.