Declan Rice gets his pre-season underway in Portugal as Arsenal fans wait for confirmation of move

Declan Rice has begun his preparations for the new season in Portugal as Arsenal fans continue to wait for his move from West Ham to become official.

The Hammers struck a club-record £105million deal, worth £100m up front plus £5m in add-ons, to sell star defensive midfielder Rice to the Gunners. 

The move is set to happen imminently but the north London side have not yet formally announced it despite manager Mikel Arteta wanting him to travel on their pre-season tour of the USA.

That tour begins next week and Rice has now kickstarted his pre-season training after enjoying a well-earned break.

‘Back at it’, he wrote as he shared a series of pictures of himself working out at a sports complex called The Campus in the Algarve.

the midfielder said he was ‘back at it’ as he got to work in the Algarve on Tuesday 

Rice can be seen jogging and lifting weights as well as being clearly exhausted come the end of the session.

The Englishman knows the complex well having spent time there with West Ham just six weeks ago before the Europa Conference League final. 

West Ham are waiting on Arsenal’s lawyers to approve the final wording of the deal – and that Rice’s transfer will be completed once that is done.

Rice lifted weights among other things as he returned to work after his holidays 

the midfielder was clearly exhausted come the end of the rigorous training session

Arsenal fly to America on Sunday, where their pre-season preparations will continue as they face MLS All-Stars in Washington, Manchester United in New Jersey and Barcelona in Los Angeles.

Rice’s move will smash the Gunners’ previous transfer record – a £72m move for Nicolas Pepe in 2019 – and will be the second-biggest British move of all time, behind Enzo Fernandez’ £106.8m switch from Benfica to Chelsea in January.