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Declan Rice has completed his transfer from West Ham to Arsenal in a British record £105million deal. The England midfielder’s departure from the club he joined a decade ago was confirmed by the Hammers on Saturday afternoon, with Arsenal announcing the switch had been completed. Rice’s move to the Emirates Stadium on a long-term contract sees him become the most expensive English player in history and follows on from the former Irons captain having guided his old club to victory in the Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina. Earlier on Saturday, Rice had penned an open letter to West Ham fans, revealing the desire of playing in the Champions League – which Arsenal will next season – was one of the reasons behind his “tough” decision to leave. West Ham’s joint-chairman David Sullivan confirmed last month the east London club had a gentleman’s agreement with Rice to allow him to leave this summer after the player turned down the offer of a highly-lucrative new contract. Rice made 245 appearances for the Irons, with his last helping secure a first trophy since 1980. “This club and its supporters will always be in my heart and forever a part of who I am,” Rice said. “Ultimately, though, it has only ever been about my ambition to play at the very highest level of the game. “Playing on the opposite team to West Ham for the first time will be an unusual experience. “I’m not sure yet exactly how I will feel, but I also know you will all understand and respect that my professional loyalties have to now lie with my new club.” Rice is the latest addition to an Arsenal squad which has already been strengthened over the summer, with the arrival of Netherlands defender Jurrien Timber having been confirmed on Friday. German international Kai Havertz has moved from Chelsea, while the Gunners have also seen France defender William Saliba and Reiss Nelson commit their futures to the club on new long-term contracts. With Granit Xhaka having left to join Bayer Leverkusen, the arrival of Rice will further bolster Mikel Areta’s midfield options as Arsenal look to close the gap on Manchester City after finishing runners-up in the Premier League last season. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Proud Alex Fitzpatrick has no issue being billed as brother of major-winner Matt How Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal compares with other big-money transfers Carlos Alcaraz: Wimbledon final against Djokovic will be best moment of my life

Daniel Ricciardo has said he needed to fall back in love with Formula One before taking the opportunity to return to racing with AlphaTauri. The eight-time grand prix winner has not driven in anger since he was axed by McLaren at the end of last season, but will make a surprise return to the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix next week after replacing Nyck De Vries at Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri. The 34-year-old Australian’s career looked to be all but over after he was deemed surplus to requirements by McLaren following two underwhelming seasons with the British team. Ricciardo did return to Red Bull as a reserve driver, but said he needed the enforced time off to ask himself if he really did want to return to racing. “Falling out of love with it took a hit on my confidence and of course if you’re competing in a sport where you’re trying to be the best at something, the best in the world at something, obviously you need full confidence and belief,” Ricciardo said in an interview on F1’s YouTube channel. “When that starts to diminish a bit, your enjoyment drops a bit as well. There’s a lot of factors. Getting back to Red Bull, just the reception I had walking back into that team was in a positive way a little bit overwhelming. “Getting back on the sim, I was a bit unsure how it was going to go, if the car would feel like it used to, if I was going to be like – for the lack of better words – ‘the old me’. “But once I’d done a few sim sessions and started feeling like myself again it brought me back to normal Daniel where I was falling back in love and ready to go again.” Ricciardo said attending the Super Bowl in Arizona in February reminded him of the buzz of a competitive environment, while being at his home grand prix in Melbourne and then the Monaco race helped him get the Formula One bug back. “I’ve enjoyed these six months off and it was really good for me but the more races I started to attend, the more sims I’ve started to do, I was getting the bug back. And then jumping in the car a few days ago I thought, ‘Oh yeah’. It all felt very normal, very familiar… “I didn’t really need to think too much about (accepting the call to return). I think being back in this family, I’m kind of going through it all again…there was no question I was going to say yes.” Ricciardo said joining AlphaTauri for the rest of the season was like going “full circle” given he raced the team, then known as Toro Rosso, in 2012 and 2013, after starting his F1 career with HRT Racing in 2011. AlphaTauri sit last in the constructor’s championship after the opening 10 races of the season and Ricciardo is under no illusions that he will be racing a top-end car any time soon. “I’m excited about it,” he said. “It’s a challenge for sure to jump in and try to hit the ground running. But also I guess I feel like I’ve been through a lot in the last few years where I’m not really scared of anything that’s going to be thrown my way – so I actually really do like the challenge. “It will be a challenge but I don’t know if I’d have it any other way.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live How does Max Verstappen and Red Bull compare to the greats of Formula One? Lando Norris ‘honoured’ to join Lewis Hamilton in battle for Formula One glory Lando Norris calls finishing runner-up at British Grand Prix ‘pretty insane’

Declan Rice has become the most expensive British footballer in history with his long-awaited transfer from West Ham to Arsenal finally being completed. Rice was dropped from Chelsea’s academy aged 14 but he was picked up by West Ham where his determination and dedication shone through. He made his senior debut for the Hammers aged 18 before establishing himself as a key player in the team. After the retirement of Mark Noble last year, Rice was his natural successor as club captain, and finished his West Ham career lifting the club’s first piece of silverware since the 1980 FA Cup when they won the 2022/23 Europa Conference League. Now, after years of speculation, the energetic midfielder – who is a cornerstone of Gareth Southgate’s England team which reached the European Championship final in 2021 and World Cup quarter-finals last year – will make the step up to a club playing Champions League football when he joins Mikel Arteta’s Gunners. Here is a closer look at the eye-watering numbers involved. A record sum Arsenal are paying £105m for Rice to make the five-mile switch from the London Stadium to the Emirates Stadium, surpassing the £100m Manchester City paid Aston Villa for their captain Jack Grealish and setting a new record for a British player. And it will be narrowly short of the most expensive signing by a Premier League team, after Chelsea paid £105.6m for Argentina’s World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez in January. City played their part here, though: they fought for Rice’s signature and the ensuing bidding war forced Arsenal to come up with a huge, unrejectable offer. Clearly Arteta had made Rice his top priority to lead another title challenge this season, and after falling short to Pep Guardiola’s City in the league, he wasn’t going to be beaten in the transfer market too. That £105m fee is an initial £100m with a further £5m of potential add-ons, depending on Arsenal’s success during Rice’s stay at the club. A giant pay rise Rice will be getting a chunky bump in salary too. He was paid only £60,000 per week at West Ham, a generous annual salary for most but a small paycheque compared to many of his England peers, like Tottenham’s Harry Kane (£200,000 per week), Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford (£200,000), Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling (£350,000) and Grealish (£300,000). Rice turned down a new contract reportedly worth around £100,000 per week to stay at West Ham and is now set to earn £250,000 per week at Arsenal. That will see him vastly increase his annual salary from around £3m to £13m, and that is before endorsements and other earnings. He will be Arsenal’s second-highest earner behind only Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus (£265,000). Hourly rate Rice’s new £250,000-a-week salary works out at £36,000 per day, and £1,488 per hour. That’s not just during the working day but every hour round the clock, even when he’s asleep. And presumably, he sleeps well. Top earners For all Rice’s riches, he remains some way short of the best-paid Premier League stars. Manchester United’s Casemiro earns £350,000 per week, and even he is eclipsed by Manchester City’s star duo, Erling Haaland (£375,000) and top dog Kevin De Bruyne (£400,000). And yet De Bruyne seems thoroughly mistreated when you compare his pay packet to the three global superstars taking home far more. Kylian Mbappe is paid £1.6m per week by Paris Saint-Germain, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both take home around £3.5m each week, at Inter Miami and Al-Nassr respectively. Rice has some catching up to do. Read More Declan Rice signs for Arsenal in record £105m transfer deal How Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal compares with other big-money transfers Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber – this is Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal now How Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal compares with other big-money transfers Declan Rice confirms ‘tough’ West Ham departure with Arsenal move imminent Declan Rice leaves West Ham for record fee with Arsenal move imminent

Chelsea & Crystal Palace are both interested in signing Flamengo's Matheus Franca.

A list of the largest fines and biggest punishments UEFA have handed out to clubs for breaches of Financial Fair Play rules, with PSG and Manchester City chief culprits.

Liverpool midfielder Fabinho has been left out of the squad travelling to their training camp in Germany after the club received an official bid for the player. The PA news agency understands a £40million offer for the Brazil international has been made by Al-Ittihad, one of four Saudi Arabian clubs owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund. Receipt of a “serious, official” offer prompted discussions within the club which resulted in a decision, taken in consultation with Fabinho, to withdraw the player from the squad which flew out on Saturday. Captain Jordan Henderson, who has also been the subject of speculation linking him to a reported £700,000-a-week offer from Al-Ettifaq – managed by former team-mate Steven Gerrard – has travelled with the squad as there has been no bid for him as yet. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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Liverpool have left Fabinho out of their pre-season squad after receiving a bid from Saudi Arabia.

Sergino Dest speaks out on his Barcelona future after returning from his loan with AC Milan.

England midfielder Ella Toone believes the Lionesses’ person-centred approach to the World Cup has prevented players from feeling “like robots” as they deal with the more difficult elements of travelling halfway around the world. Should the European champions advance from their July 22 Haiti opener all the way to the August 20th Sydney final, they will have spent nearly two months in tournament co-hosts Australia, with a nine-hour time difference and more than 10,000 miles between the Lionesses and loved ones at home. While England have quickly gotten down to business in their Queensland training sessions, they have also been permitted plenty of downtime including organised whale-watching and zoo trips or casual bonding with team-mates at the tranquil team hotel. Toone said: “We’re just normal people, aren’t we? And it’s hard to be away from home, and it’s sometimes hard to be on camp for such a long period of time, but that’s why we’ve got to make a home-away-from-home and I think that’s what we’ve done really well. “We’ve got a fantastic group of players who want the same goal, and yeah, I think we have to have that environment where we can feel like we’re at home, and we’re not just robots on camp and doing the same thing day in and day out. “It’s nice to have a bit of time off and spend time together as well, and get to see beautiful Australia as well, it definitely helps us feel like we’re not robots.” England manager Sarina Wiegman earlier in the week used the “robot” analogy when she spoke about how the holistic human approach taken by the Lionesses coaching and support staff was a deliberate choice, drawn partially from her own experience as a Netherlands international. The boss recalled moments where she found it difficult to balance the serious task of preparing for big competitions with the more fun side of travelling to take on the world with her team-mates. Toone was part of Wiegman’s squad for last summer’s Wembley triumph, and is eager to help any of the six Lionesses – Niamh Charles, Laura Coombs, Lauren James, Esme Morgan, Katie Robinson and Katie Zelem – for whom this World Cup will be their first major tournament. “Some days will be hard,” Toone added. “But you’ve got to speak to people, tell them how you’re feeling. But I think we’ve all been there, we’ve all had days where they’re all going to be a bit harder than other days. “We’re away from family for a long time which is hard, and obviously the time difference doesn’t help. You’ve definitely got to lean on the people around you, you’ve got to open up and understand that days are going to be tough but it’s how you deal with that and how you get on with it.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Republic of Ireland coach Vera Pauw admits her players “feared for their bodies” in their abandoned Women’s World Cup warm-up match against Colombia on Friday. Midfielder Denise O’Sullivan was taken to hospital with a shin injury and the game was halted after just 20 minutes following a number of rough challenges, with the Football Association of Ireland describing it as “overly physical”. Scans have revealed the North Carolina Courage captain has not sustained any fractures but the extent of a soft tissue injury has still to be discovered. “It was something I had never experienced before in my 47 years being involved in football, not as a player, not as a coach,” Pauw told Sky Sports. “It started lively, a good game, normal, and then the atmosphere built up to becoming over-physical. “Then there came a huge challenge on Denise, a challenge not within the rules of the game and she was in awful pain. “I went to the coach of Colombia and I said: ‘I need help from you, we need to calm this down. We all want to go to the World Cup’. The players were extremely upset and had fear for themselves. Republic of Ireland manager Vera Pauw “The players were extremely upset and had fear for themselves. We are not a team who fear tackles or challenges. “I took them away to calm things down, brought them to the bench. We discussed it and there was contact with the president and the CEO of the FAI. “Collectively we knew it would not come right any more and if it went on we would put our players into a potentially-serious situation. “We had a calm discussion with the ref and they called off the game.” Ireland open their World Cup campaign against Australia and Pauw remains optimistic O’Sullivan will be fit. “We have hopes she can make the game but we need to see, the first 48 hours are very important in these soft tissue injuries,” she added. The Colombian Football Federation (FCF) released a statement which said, while the training of its teams was “framed within the rules of the game, healthy competition and fair play”, it respected Ireland’s decision. “The Colombian Football Federation informs that the friendly match… between the Colombia women’s national team and Ireland was suspended because the Irish national team preferred not to continue playing when 23 minutes of the first half had elapsed,” said the statement from the FCF, which has been contacted for further comment. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Declan Rice confirms ‘tough’ West Ham departure with Arsenal move imminent Declan Rice leaves West Ham for record fee with Arsenal move imminent Alex Greenwood happy with ‘humble’ England’s chances at Women’s World Cup