West Ham United and Arsenal are locked in talks to finalise the transfer of Declan Rice, but it wasn’t hard to convince the midfielder to make the move.

Arsenal certainly haven’t found it easy to convince West Ham United to part ways with their star player this summer.

It took three bids and an eventual £105m total bid to agree a fee with the east London club, and talks remain ongoing over the payment structure of the deal.

But it’s helped that Declan Rice himself has seemingly been on board with the move for a while now.

CBS Sports’ James Benge reports that Arsenal worked on convincing Rice for more than six months, though they didn’t have to try very hard.

As long ago as December, Rice was already talking about Arsenal in glowing terms behind the scenes, and he was clearly impressed with the team’s progress under Mikel Arteta.

Whilst it was a bonus for Rice to be able to remain in London with his young family, CBS Sports suggest that wasn’t the only factor in his decision.

The player was ready to take the next step in his career, and he clearly believed Arsenal were offering the place to do that.

Arsenal effectively fought off competition from the likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester City by ensuring they were front and centre in Rice’s mind throughout the process, and it seems that strategy has paid dividends.

Sources close to the deal are hoping for an agreement on payment terms between Arsenal and West Ham by Monday and a medical has reportedly already been scheduled.

Arteta is reportedly keen to get Rice fully integrated at Arsenal before the pre-season tour of the United States, with the Gunners playing their first game in the U.S. on July 20th.

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

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

After a well-earned break, it looks like the 24-year-old will be linking up with new teammates in pre-season.