Personal terms agreed: Arsenal have made a bid to sign £70M star player who seems to be Boyhood friend of Jack Grealish
Arsenal are now ‘quietly confident’ they can sign West Ham United star Declan Rice this summer.
That’s according to journalist Ben Jacobs, who was speaking to Give Me Sport about the 24-year-old.
Declan Rice looks set to move on regardless of whether West Ham are relegated or not this season.
He’s already made his feelings clear about wanting to play in the Champions League, something Arsenal will be able to offer him.
The England international has been the Hammers star player for some time, but now feels like the right time to move on.
Having graduated from the academy, Rice was handed the armband after Mark Noble’s retirement.
Leadership is an attribute that Mikel Arteta looks for in his players, as can be seen by his recent signings.
The likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus and Jorginho are all determined individuals.
Arsenal are now confident they can add Rice to that list of players this summer.
He could add another dimension to their midfield, and would be improve the overall quality of the squad.
Arsenal quietly confident they can sign Rice
Speaking to Give Me Sport, Jacobs said: “I think that suitors like Arsenal and Chelsea, who may even be in the race as well, are quietly confident that they can get a player like Declan Rice for something between £75m and £80m, which sounds like a lot of money, but I think Arsenal see that as value.
“And I think that summarises how they’ll act in the summer generally.
“It’s not about how much they spend because they will have that financial muscle.
“It’s about finding value in the market and that’s always been Arsenal’s model. I don’t expect that to change regardless of winning the Champions League or the Premier League.
“They’ve never wanted to put it out there in the market that they’re prepared to spend wildly above the odds, even on a player that they so desperately want.”
The ‘world-class’ midfielder could have plenty of suitors, with Chelsea and Manchester United both interested.
The Gunners will hope the idea of staying in London may help their cause when it comes to signing Rice.
Arsenal may also be confident they can bring in Rice given how well they’ve played this season.
It’s an incredibly exciting project at The Emirates right now, with plenty of young players reaching their full potential under Arteta.
The Arsenal coach may be hoping Bukayo Saka can have a word with him on international duty this week to convince him to join this summer.
