West Ham United have rejected an opening offer totalling £90 million from Arsenal for Declan Rice, sources have told ESPN.

The newly crowned Europa Conference League winners will reluctantly allow Rice to leave this summer after he turned down a new deal but value him in excess of £100m.

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Arsenal lead the race for his signature but their opening offer falls short of that valuation. Sources have told ESPN that the bid comprised an initial £80m plus a further £10m in add-ons.

Bayern Munich held an interest in Rice but have so far decided not to pursue a deal. However, West Ham expect Manchester City to enter the running with a formal bid.

Sources added that Arsenal are expected to return with an improved offer for the midfielder.

City are assessing their options and sources suggest that West ham would be interested in a player-plus-cash deal which would see Kalvin Phillips move to east London but no such proposal has yet been made.

Arsenal have identified Rice as their top midfield target and are keen on securing a deal swiftly so the 24-year-old can join their preseason tour to the United States.

Speaking after West Ham's Europa Conference final victory over Fiorentina last week, club chairman David Sullivan said Rice is set to leave this summer with the player having two years remaining on his existing contract.

"We promised him he could go, he set his heart on going," Sullivan said. "You can't ask for a man who has committed more to us this season.

"In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement -- or several replacements. It's not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000-a-week 18 months ago. He turned it down.

"It's cost him £10m to stay at West Ham in that time [in lost wages]. And he wants to go. You can't keep a player who doesn't want to be there."

Toni Kroos has sounded a note of caution over Real Madrid's €103 million ($111.67m) signing of Jude Bellingham, hinting at Eden Hazard as a big-money transfer that didn't turn out as planned.

Madrid confirmed the deal with Borussia Dortmund for England star Bellingham, 19, on Wednesday on a six-year contract.

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Hazard joined the LaLiga giants in 2019 for a similar, initial €100m fee, but terminated his contract this month after four disappointing years at the Bernabeu.

"[Bellingham] is a top player who a lot of teams wanted, with the mixture of his quality and his age," Kroos said on his podcast Einfach mal Luppen. "I have a lot of faith in those responsible [at the club]. If Real Madrid have spent so much, I hope it's a good signing for us. If he does as well as at Dortmund, we can say it's a good signing. If not, it isn't.

"We also had someone who came for a lot of money and more or less let his career rest. It was a lot of money and I think everyone would say, looking back: it wasn't a good signing. But let's be optimistic."

Bellingham scored 14 goals in all competitions for Dortmund last season, often captaining the side as they came close to winning the Bundesliga, losing out to Bayern Munich on the final day.

Madrid have also confirmed deals for left-back Fran Garcia and playmaker Brahim Diaz so far this summer -- and they're looking to sign a centre forward after Karim Benzema left the club to join Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad.

"The decision depends on you," Kroos said, when discussing Benzema's exit. "There are circumstances which contribute. Credit where credit is due, he arrived at Real at 20 or 21, and what he's given the club, the important goals he's scored ... Last year was the cherry on the cake. There haven't been many forwards in the last 15 years who have used the ball like him."

Madrid confirmed Benzema's departure just hours before their last game of the LaLiga season on June 4.

"I thought he wanted to end his career at Madrid," Kroos said. "It was all done so fast. I think it was important for him to say goodbye to the Bernabeu. You could see it was done on short notice, if not something more would have been organised.

"It was an appropriate farewell, given the time they had. I think not many knew. A lot of people found out with the official announcement. There was no speech from him or anything like that."

Manchester City kick off their defence of the Premier League title at newly promoted Burnley, while Mauricio Pochettino will begin his reign at Chelsea against Liverpool.

Burnley, managed by City legend Vincent Kompany, is the opening game of the season on Friday, Aug. 11.

- Premier League fixtures 2023-24 in full

Luton Town, who are back in the English top flight for the first time since 1992, begin away at Brighton. Fellow Premier League newcomers Sheffield United play Crystal Palace at Bramall Lane.

Kenilworth Road will become the smallest ground to host a Premier League fixture when Luton play Burnley on Aug. 19.

New Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou starts his reign away at Brentford; Harry Kane's future at the club is still uncertain.

Spurs face a difficult end to their season with consecutive games against Newcastle, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool in April and May.

Newcastle United face a tricky start to their season, playing five of last season's top eight in their first five fixtures. They open at home to Aston Villa before facing Man City (away), Liverpool (home), Brighton (away) and Brentford (home).

The first Manchester derby of the season will be played on Oct. 28 at Old Trafford. The reverse fixture at the Etihad is March 2, with Guardiola's side travelling to Anfield the following weekend on March 9.

After an unexpected title challenge last campaign, Arsenal face Nottingham Forest at the Emirates on the opening weekend before playing Palace (away), Fulham (home) and Manchester United (home).

Last season's top two first meet on Oct. 7 in north London with Mikel Arteta's side facing Man City in the reverse fixture on March 30.

Pochettino's Chelsea rebuild will face a challenge in November with a return to former club Tottenham on Nov. 4, followed by fixtures against Man City (home) and Newcastle (away).

Just five days after Manchester City set the seal on the 2022-23 season by completing a Premier League/FA Cup/Champions League treble, the countdown to the 2023-24 campaign has begun with the release of the fixture list for year ahead.

Pep Guardiola's City will attempt to become the first club in English league history, dating back to 1888, to win four successive titles. Meanwhile, last season's runners-up Arsenal will hope to mark the 20th anniversary of Arsene Wenger's team winning the league as the "Invincibles" by ending their two-decade wait to be crowned champions again.

Luton Town will be the smallest team to play in the Premier League, nine years after winning promotion from the National League, by hosting games at their 10,356-capacity Kenilworth Road stadium. Their only objective will be to survive in the top flight.

Mauricio Pochettino (Chelsea) and Ange Postecoglu (Tottenham Hotspur) start new managerial jobs, aiming to revive their clubs after disappointing seasons last time around.

With the fixtures now published and managers, players and supporters able to plot their path to success -- or otherwise -- here are the big talking points of the 2023-24 Premier League schedule.

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Manchester City handed dream start

Pep Guardiola's treble winners start the season by facing two promoted teams in their first three games, with a trip to Burnley -- managed by former City captain Vincent Kompany -- launching their campaign on Friday, Aug. 11. After facing Newcastle United at the Etihad on Aug. 19, City then travel to Sheffield United before a home game against Fulham takes them into the first international break in early September.

There is a flipside, of course, to playing promoted teams early in the season. Confidence is still high from the previous campaign and the positive momentum can give those teams the impetus to start well. But compared to their rivals, City have a dream start and aside from the early clash with Newcastle, the first tricky fixture on their list is the away game at Arsenal on Oct. 7.

A six-week period in the autumn could be City's big test, with a trip to Manchester United on Oct. 28 followed by Chelsea (away, Nov. 11), Liverpool (home, Nov. 25) and Tottenham (home, Dec. 2). And after being handed a dream start, City also close the season out with games they will expect win against Nottingham Forest (away), Wolverhampton Wanderers (home), Fulham (away) and West Ham United (home).

Tough start at Chelsea for Pochettino

After enduring a nightmare season last time around under three different managers -- Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard -- Chelsea need to start well under new boss Mauricio Pochettino, but the former Spurs coach could hardly have been handed a tougher beginning to the job.

Chelsea open with a home game against Liverpool on Aug. 13 before travelling to east London for a derby game against Europa Conference League winners West Ham six days later. Two fixtures loaded with history and rivalry, so the pressure will be on Chelsea and Pochettino to make a positive start before back-to-back home games against Luton and Forest.

Pochettino, who guided Spurs to a Champions League final in 2019, returns to his old club for the first time on Nov. 4 before Chelsea face Manchester City the following weekend. With no European football at Stamford Bridge this season, however, Chelsea's ability to focus solely on domestic fixtures could help Pochettino put the team back on track.

Liverpool, Man United face big rivals early

Liverpool and Manchester United supporters constantly argue over who is the biggest and most successful club -- both are historically way ahead of the rest in England -- and they can now agree to disagree over which of the two clubs has the toughest start to the season.

To have any hope of beating Manchester City to the title, Liverpool and United must hit the ground running, but the fixture computer has not been kind to either of them.

While Erik ten Hag's United open up with a clash against Wolves at Old Trafford, their first two away games take them to Tottenham (Aug. 19) and Arsenal (Sept. 2) -- a very tricky start for Harry Kane if United succeed in taking him from Spurs this summer.

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, who finished fifth last season, open with a difficult trip to Chelsea before also travelling to Newcastle (Aug. 26) and a home game against Unai Emery's resurgent Aston Villa on Sept. 2.

An Anfield clash on Aug. 19 with Bournemouth, who they beat 9-0 in the corresponding fixture last season, offers Liverpool some respite from their daunting start.

Arsenal have chance for flying start

Arsenal mounted a title challenge last season after building on a whirlwind start in which they won their first five games, and Mikel Arteta's side have the chance to open up in similar fashion this time around.

A home game against Nottingham Forest, followed by a trip to Crystal Palace and then Fulham at the Emirates on Aug. 26, offers the Gunners the opportunity to bank nine points before a tougher run of games against Manchester United (home, Sept. 2), Everton (away, Sept. 16) and Spurs (home, Sept. 23). But with United and Spurs visiting the Emirates during that period, it means that Arsenal can aim to be the side which keeps pace with City in the early weeks of the season.

Arsenal's recurring flaw, however, is their ability to win during the final weeks of the campaign having blown Champions League qualification and the title over the last two seasons. This time around, they face two daunting away games at Spurs (April 27) and Man United (May 11), so Arsenal will need to find a way to win in the run-in if they are to win the title this season.

Matches you don't want to miss

Chelsea vs. Liverpool (Aug. 13)

It's rare for such a box-office fixture to be staged on the opening weekend of the season, but this one has all the ingredients to be the first stand-out game of the campaign.

Liverpool need to bounce back after last season's failure to finish in the top four, but Chelsea were even worse and ended up in the bottom half of the table. So this will be two teams with so much to prove and expensive signings -- Chelsea's Mykhailo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez, Liverpool's Darwin Nunez -- needing to show that they can perform in the Premier League after a disappointing first season.

And then there is Pochettino, back in the Premier League, desperately trying to win his first game as Chelsea boss against Klopp, the manager who denied him Champions League glory while at Spurs.

Manchester City vs. Newcastle United (Aug. 19)

We all know what to expect from Manchester City, but this will be a game which shows us whether Newcastle are the real deal under Eddie Howe and if they can challenge for the title in 2023-24.

The Magpies are likely to have significantly strengthened their squad by the time the season kicks off, ahead of a first Champions League campaign for 20 years, and they will see this game as the acid test of their progress so far.

A title challenge at St James' Park seems maybe a year or two down the line, but Newcastle confounded expectations by sealing a top-four finish last season, so don't write them off -- especially if they get a positive result at the Etihad.

Arsenal vs. Manchester United (Sept. 2)

Last season's runners-up face the side that finished third, so theoretically this is a game between the two teams most likely to beat City to the title this season. But both sides need to improve their squads to maintain the progress they made last term and managers Arteta and Ten Hag have a big summer ahead in terms of recruitment.

Arsenal-United games rarely disappoint in terms of action and significance and this one will be no different. It will give us a crucial pointer as to the prospects of the two teams over the season ahead.

Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur (Sept. 23)

This will be Postecoglu's first North London derby as Spurs manager and the Premier League's first Australian boss has a tough task ahead of him when it comes to bridging the gap between his club and the Gunners.

Postecoglu faced a similar challenge in Glasgow when he took charge of Celtic two summers ago after Steven Gerrard guided Rangers to a first title in a decade, and he quickly turned the tide in the Old Firm rivalry. So the challenge of taking on Arteta and making Spurs the No. 1 team in North London won't faze him.

By the time this game comes around, expect the new Spurs boss to have instilled a better mentality into his under-achieving squad. Arsenal should be ready to face a different Tottenham under Postecoglu.

Manchester United vs. Manchester City (Oct. 28)

It is now 10 years since Manchester United last won the Premier League title and they haven't finished above City in the table in any of the seasons since.

Ten Hag has raised hopes that United will challenge again soon, but they still look some way short of Pep Guardiola's City. But each new season brings new hope and, if United strengthen well this summer, they can push City close.

This game will be an indicator as to whether United can do it next season, though. With the season over two months old by the time this game comes around, this game could make-or-break United's title ambitions.

Manchester City vs. Liverpool (Nov. 25)

Despite Liverpool's slide last season, this fixture is still the one that defines this era of the Premier League.

No team has challenged City as consistently as Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in recent years and they arguably go into the new season as second favourites for the title due to their pedigree and proven players such as Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool are unquestionably going through a period of transition, but their impressive run of form during the final weeks of last season proved they can still blow teams away.

So if Liverpool can return to their best form -- propelled by new arrival Alexis Mac Allister and any further summer signings -- this game could be between the two sides most likely to win the title.

"He'd [Boult] had a wonderful career for New Zealand and been a great servant and now almost wants a little bit of a dollar each way."

Craig McMillan

On the 25th anniversary of Michael Jordan's iconic game-winning shot in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, the sneakers he wore one season earlier in the infamous "Flu Game" sold for more than $1 million.

Despite subsequent revelations from Jordan's trainer and "The Last Dance" documentary that he wasn't actually ailed by the flu in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals -- "The Food Poisoning Game" doesn't pack the same wallop -- the sneakers that Jordan wore that night have sold for $1.38 million (including buyer's premium) with collectibles marketplace Goldin. The shoes sold at auction on Wednesday.

Jordan had 38 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in more than 44 minutes that night to lead the Bulls past the Jazz in Utah. Then he gave his signed sneakers to Jazz ball boy Preston Truman, who'd curried favor with Jordan by bringing him applesauce before games. (Truman was photographed receiving the signed kicks from Jordan, but additional photo-matching was done by MeiGray and Sports Investors Authentication; there's also a letter of authenticity from Truman.) The Bulls went on to clinch the 1997 title in six games.

Truman held onto the shoes for 15 years before consigning them to Grey Flannel Auctions in 2013; when they sold for $104,765, it demolished the record for game-worn shoes across sports.

Ten years later, the same sneakers have appreciated by more than 1,200%, but still fell short of the all-time record for a pair of sneakers: That still belongs to the Air Jordan XIII Breds that Jordan wore in the second half of Game 2 of the 1998 "Last Dance" NBA Finals, which sold for $2.238 million with Sotheby's in April. Before that, the previous record paid for sneakers also belonged to Jordan-worn kicks: the Jordan Air Ships worn during his rookie season, which sold for $1.472 million also with Sotheby's in 2021.

But while Jordan's "Flu Game" sneakers might not be his priciest keepsake, they arguably might be his most notable. In a promotional video, Ken Goldin, the founder and executive chairman of Goldin, said, "'The Flu Game' shoes are the most important [game-used Jordan] shoes to hit the market -- period."

HOUSTON -- Jose Abreu scored on catcher Keibert Ruiz's throwing error in a wild ninth inning to give the Houston Astros a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.

Kyle Tucker led off with a single off Hunter Harvey (2-3), and Abreu followed with an infield single. Yainer Diaz struck out before Corey Julks walked to load the bases to set up Jake Meyers' grounder to short.

CJ Abrams threw home to get the second out, but Ruiz's throw to first went off Meyers' helmet and allowed Abreu to score.

The Nationals argued the final play with the umpires, saying that Meyers was out of the baseline, but to no avail.

Washington manager Dave Martinez began his postgame availability by holding up a picture that showed Meyers running on the grass on his way to first.

"There it is right there," Martinez said. "Take a look at it. Is that on the line? I don't think so. I'm over this play. Seriously. They need to fix the rule. If this is what the umpire sees that he's running down the line, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it. Fix it. We lost the game, and he had nothing to say about it because he can't make the right call. Brutal."

Martinez said he was not given an explanation beyond that plate umpire Jeremy Riggs saw Meyers run down the line.

"I think they were disputing whether he was in the baseline or not," Houston manager Dusty Baker said. "That's always a questionable call. Nobody really has the vantage point very good except really the home plate umpire, and he said it was nothing."

Meyers said he ran up the line and collided with first baseman Michael Chavis' glove, adding that he was touching the base.

"I think that kind of sent the ball elsewhere," Meyers said. "I'm not really sure, but I know we scored, and we won. That's good."

Washington rallied for three runs in the ninth off Houston closer Ryan Pressly (1-2). Joey Meneses reached on an error by Alex Bregman to start the inning and scored on an RBI double by Corey Dickerson.

After Ruiz grounded out, Ildemaro Vargas grounded to the pitcher, but Pressly threw wide to home, allowing Dickerson to score. Dominic Smith tied it at 4 with an RBI triple, but Pressly recovered to get two groundouts to end the inning and keep it tied.

"What was going through my mind was we had to get out of there with at least a tie because we had some horses coming up in the ninth," Baker said. "We gave them three runs in the ninth, and they gave us one run in the bottom of the ninth."

Abreu hit a two-run double in the first, and Abreu and Diaz hit back-to-back solo home runs in the fourth to make it 4-0. Abreu finished with three hits and is 5-for-7 in the two games against Washington.

Framber Valdez allowed one run on five hits with six strikeouts in seven innings. He lowered his ERA to 2.27. Valdez has allowed one run or fewer in four of his past five starts.

The Nationals got a run back in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Abrams, scoring Smith, who had doubled to lead off the inning.

Josiah Gray allowed four runs on six hits with five strikeouts in seven innings. It was second time in the past three games Gray has surrendered four runs.

Washington has lost eight of its past nine games.