Arsenal step up £92m transfer pursuit of West Ham’s Declan Rice

Arsenal will step up their pursuit of Declan Rice in the coming days after the West Ham United midfielder’s marathon season came to an end with a dramatic victory in the Europa Conference League final.

Rice is Arsenal’s priority target for this summer window and the north London club are hoping to move quickly to secure his signature in time for the start of pre-season.

Rice is also of interest to Bayern Munich and has admirers at Manchester United but Arsenal are understood to be the frontrunners for the 24-year-old, who led West Ham to a thrilling 2-1 victory over Fiorentina last night.

Arsenal have been working on structuring a deal worth £92 million (€107m) for Rice, who has been identified as the club’s top target by manager Mikel Arteta and sporting director Edu.

If a move for Rice can be completed, as Arsenal hope, it would open the door for Granit Xhaka to leave the club for Bayer Leverkusen in the coming weeks. A deal worth around £13 million is expected to be finalised imminently, with Xhaka ready to return to Germany.

There is an acceptance at West Ham that Rice will be leaving the club this summer but they will still demand an enormous fee for a player who has been so fundamental to their success under David Moyes in recent years.

If Arsenal are able to agree a deal for Rice, he will almost certainly become the most expensive player in their history — ahead of £72 million winger Nicolas Pepe, who failed to justify his fee at the Emirates Stadium after joining in the summer of 2019.

Speaking immediately after West Ham’s Europa Conference League victory, Rice said: “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?”

Arsenal are also working on other targets for this summer and are hoping to strengthen their defence before the return of Premier League action. The club are exploring options for right-backs and central defenders, and will also be in the market for another central midfielder.

They are close to finalising a new contract for winger Reiss Nelson and remain hopeful that key centre-back William Saliba will also sign an extension in the coming weeks.

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