Man City chief explains decision to withdraw from Declan Rice race

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Man City chief explains decision to withdraw from Declan Rice race

Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has insisted the treble winners can afford to take their time in search of the right reinforcements and do not need to rush into deals like the signing of West Ham's Declan Rice.

City saw a £90m bid rejected earlier this month and, with West Ham holding out for over £100m, subsequently withdrew from the race to sign Rice.

With no competition left, Arsenal struck an agreement with West Ham to sign Rice in a £105m deal, eventually striking a compromise on a payment structure which satisfied the Europa Conference League winners.

During the launch of a partnership with cryptocurrency exchange organisation OKX, Soriano insisted City are no longer at a point where they need to throw huge sums of money around.

"If you look at what we did at the start of this project, there was a need for a lot of changes and investment - but not anymore," the City chief said. "If you look at what we have done in the last five years, our level of investment in new players is well thought out.

"We are not the top net-spenders of last year or the last three or five years. We have a platform where we know what to do and we can do it with time and intelligence. When we don't like a deal, we walk away and we don't panic.

"We are in a stable position at the top of the industry and where we need to stay. We've done this in the last ten years, why can't we do it in the next ten? Why not? That's our objective. To do that, we will continue to be humble and work very hard and try to have the best people and talent in our industry working for Manchester City."

With City declining to match Arsenal's proposal, Rice is now expected to head to the Emirates Stadium as part of a summer transfer spree which is set to exceed £200m.

Kai Havertz has already sealed a £65m move from Chelsea and Arsenal have also agreed a fee of £40.5m for Ajax defender Jurrien Timber.