Chelsea were in the mix for Declan Rice until January, but he wasn’t sold by their pitch and was put off by their managerial uncertainty.

Arsenal had to fend off plenty of competition for Declan Rice’s signature this summer, with Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Manchester United among the clubs to hold a serious interest in the midfielder.

City made a £90m bid to try and hijack the deal from Arsenal, and United showed a willingness to offer players in exchange.

Even Liverpool were credited with an interest, but they reportedly avoided getting too involved as they were focusing on Jude Bellingham – who joined Real Madrid.

And whilst big-six rivals Chelsea never stood a chance in the race this summer, they were in the mix for Rice as recently as January.

Ben Jacobs reports that Rice was originally open to returning to Chelsea, but he wasn’t sold by their pitch.

The former West Ham United man also worried that Graham Potter wouldn’t be the manager he’d end up playing under, and those fears were proven right.

By contrast, Mikel Arteta gave Rice a lengthy hands-on presentation, making it clear to the 24-year-old he would be a staple of the team for several seasons if all goes to plan.

Rice was won over by Arteta’s proposal, making the Gunners his priority as Chelsea faded out of contention.

The midfielder also spoke with Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, and Ian Wright about the move, doing his homework. But nothing they said put him off ultimately joining Arsenal.

Chelsea ended up spending big on Enzo Fernandez, who has made a solid start with the club. They’ll hope they don’t end up regretting their failure to convince Arsenal’s club-record signing to join them instead.