West Ham United have rejected Manchester City’s opening bid to sign Declan Rice, with reports suggesting they were unimpressed by the offer.

On Monday, Manchester City formally entered the race to sign Declan Rice, bidding £80m plus £10m in add-ons for the West Ham United midfielder.

David Ornstein reports that West Ham were “unimpressed” by the offer, and they quickly rejected it.

Arsenal had already seen a £75m plus £15m offer turned down by West Ham, so City’s new bid came to the same total, albeit with more of the fee guaranteed.

The Guardian report that West Ham are holding out for a fee of at least £100m, and Rice’s preference remains Arsenal.

But though the midfielder wants to remain in London, he won’t turn City down if they do a deal with West Ham and Arsenal don’t.

The West Ham Way confirm that the City bid has been turned down, and deemed “completely unacceptable” by West Ham, adding that the club are anticipating a third offer from Arsenal.

Steinberg confirms that Arsenal are preparing their third bid for the player, and Sami Mokbel of the Daily Mail also reports that the Gunners are set to formalise their third offer.

Manchester United are currently viewed as outsiders for the deal.

Reports from last week suggested that the expectation remains that Rice will join Arsenal for a fee that could top £100m with add-ons, with indications last Thursday that the transfer was rumbling towards a conclusion.

It’s unclear how City’s formal bid has affected those expectations, but we should certainly have a much clearer idea of the state of play when Arsenal do submit their third offer.

Rice is currently on holiday, after finally concluding a long season with a couple of games on international duty over the last fortnight.

The 24-year-old has made 50 appearances for West Ham and 11 appearances for England over the last 12 months.