Rice Nears New Arsenal Deal as Man City's Champions League Status Becomes New Flashpoint
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Declan Rice is close to agreeing a new long-term contract at Arsenal, sources have told BBC Sport, with talks that began in March now at an advanced stage. The 27-year-old, who joined from West Ham for £105m in 2023 and has made 165 appearances, would reportedly move onto wages close to the club's top earner Bukayo Saka's rumoured £350,000 a week, up from his current £240,000. The news follows Mikel Arteta's new contract extension to 2030, announced earlier in the week.
Senior figures in English football are concerned Manchester City could still qualify for next season's Champions League even if the club is relegated over its financial rule breaches, BBC Sport reported. The issue centres on City potentially winning this season's Champions League, which would grant entry as holders regardless of domestic status, and on UEFA licensing rules that reportedly offer no clear mechanism to block a club meeting current financial criteria, irrespective of historic sanctions.
Transfer and squad notes
Liverpool host Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday in City's first match since being found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules across nine seasons, with both sides unbeaten this term — City on a five-win start under Enzo Maresca and Liverpool one of three sides yet to lose under Andoni Iraola, according to Sky Sports. City arrive three points clear at the top, with Liverpool sixth.
Liverpool are facing fitness doubts over centre-back Jeremy Jacquet ahead of that game after the French federation confirmed he sustained a strain to his left hamstring and was withdrawn from France's squad, Sky Sports reported. The £60m summer signing from Rennes has started six of Liverpool's seven matches this season alongside Virgil van Dijk, making any absence a notable blow against City's attack.
What it means for the league
Arsenal's off-pitch stability — locking down both their manager and a key midfielder within days of each other — contrasts sharply with the uncertainty now surrounding Manchester City, where the financial case is starting to raise questions that go beyond the Premier League's own jurisdiction and into UEFA's competition structures. Sunday's meeting between Liverpool and City will be the first real on-pitch test since the guilty verdict, giving an early signal of whether the scandal is affecting City's form as scrutiny intensifies. With City's appeal and sanctions hearing still to come, this weekend's Premier League table remains, in BBC Sport's words, shadowed by "a huge asterisk" until the process concludes.