Arsenal’s opening offer for Declan Rice has been rejected by West Ham United, as Manchester City consider entering the race for the England midfielder.
Arsenal have made Rice their priority transfer target and have been keen to move as quickly as possible this summer in order to sign him before the start of pre-season.
Talks with West Ham have been ongoing since the end of the club campaign and the north London club are now understood to have made their first bid for the England midfielder.
West Ham have been hoping to receive more than £100 million for Rice, including add-ons, while Arsenal have been working on structuring a deal worth around £90m.
City are now also showing interest in Rice, however, in a move which could further drive up the price of the player or even sabotage Arsenal’s primary summer transfer plan.
West Ham’s asking price for Rice would not be beyond the reach of City, whose financial firepower has been further boosted by a near-£300 million windfall as a result of their extraordinary Treble.
City’s first-choice midfield target this summer was Jude Bellingham, who has since joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund, and there is uncertainty over the future of key midfielders Ilkay Gundogan, who is wanted by Arsenal and Barcelona, and Bernardo Silva, who is attracting interest from Paris St-Germain.
City are in talks with Chelsea over Mateo Kovacic and are still hoping that Gundogan will commit to a new deal. Rice is a player who City have looked at previously, without ever formally pursuing a move.
Any new addition to the City midfield would raise more questions over the future of Kalvin Phillips, but the England international is understood to be keen to stay at City.
Rice has been Arsenal’s top midfield target for months and the club have been confident of securing his signature this summer.
Discussions between the two teams were ramped up following the Europa Conference League final last week and West Ham have accepted that Rice will be leaving before the start of the new season.
West Ham chairman David Sullivan said last week that Rice’s “heart is set” on a transfer this summer and added that “three or four” clubs had shown an interest in the 24-year-old.
Bayern Munich have been considering making an approach to West Ham but reports in Germany this week suggested they had fallen out of the running due to an expectation that Rice will be joining Arsenal.
Rice has remained coy on his own future, saying after West Ham’s Europa Conference League victory: “At the moment there’s a lot of speculation going on about my future. Obviously there is interest from other clubs but ultimately I still have two years left at West Ham.
“I love this club and I love playing for this club. There hasn’t been anything yet. My focus is playing for West Ham at the moment. I am captain of this club and I can’t speak highly enough of this place. Let’s just see what happens. Let’s wait and see. Who knows?”
More to follow…
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