Arsenal would love to sign West Ham’s Declan Rice in the summer.
Rice, 24, is expected to leave the Hammers at the end of the season after failing to extend his contract beyond 2024.
Set to be wanted by almost all of the top clubs, West Ham’s captain is expected to have his pick of the bunch but with Manchester City’s defensive midfield role one of their strongest, Chelsea prioritising outgoings and Manchester United focusing on signing a new striker, the opportunity to join a so-called ‘top four’ club will probably present itself in the form of Liverpool or Arsenal.
And with West Ham valuing Rice at around £100m (ESPN) and Liverpool pulling out of the race to sign Jude Bellingham for financial reasons (The Times), Mikel Arteta’s high-flying Gunners could very well be in pole position to sign the highly-rated England international.
In fact, according to a recent report from the Daily Star, should Rice give the green light to a move to the Emirates, he will see his earnings quadruple from around £60,000-per week to a staggering £240,000-per week.
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However, even though a move to his cross-town rivals this summer is probably the likeliest outcome for Rice as things stand, failure to land their top target will see the Gunners’ summer plans change, and according to journalist Ben Jacobs, Arteta already has two alternative midfielders on his shortlist.
“I still think that if we look at midfield, Declan Rice is the priority,” Jacobs told GiveMeSport.
“But we know that Moises Caicedo, and it is probably fair to say Romeo Lavia, are there on the radar for Arsenal.”
Caicedo was subjected to a January offer from Arsenal but Brighton’s unwillingness to offload one of their best players mid-way through the season saw the Londoners come up short.
Elsewhere, Southampton’s Lavia, 19, is expected to leave Saint Mary’s if the team end up relegated to the Championship. Chelsea are also believed to be interested in the Saints’ highly-rated midfielder.