ARSENAL fear being priced out of a deal for £100million-rated Declan Rice.
Signing the West Ham captain is their top priority this summer and the Gunners are convinced the player has his heart set on a move to the Emirates.
Arsenal were hoping to pay around £80m for 24-year-old Rice and offer him a five-year contract worth up to £300,000 a week.
But after being gazumped by Chelsea for winger Mykhailo Mudryk in January, there are concerns at the club that history could be about to repeat itself.
And it is not just the big-spending Blues they are worried about this time because Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool are also very keen on the England international.
West Ham have made it clear it will take more than the £106m British transfer record which Chelsea paid for midfielder Enzo Fernandez to convince them to sell their skipper.
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Boss David Moyes said at the weekend: “Declan is the best English midfielder around and that is why he is going to be extremely expensive.”
And the Hammers are more than happy to oversee a bidding war which could push the price up to as much as £130m.
Chelsea have major FFP concerns after spending £600m on new signings in the past year but they could offer as many as four players in exchange.
City wanted to sign Jude Bellingham, 19, from Dortmund this summer but look set to miss out to Real Madrid.
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Rice, who still has one year remaining on his Hammers contract with the option of a further 12 months, has made it clear that he is ready to move on and wants to play in the Champions League.
That gives Arsenal an advantage over Chelsea, who actually released the player from their academy when he was 14.
Rice is also known to be impressed by Mikel Arteta’s philosophy of building his team around hungry young players.
But none of that will count for anything unless Arsenal are prepared to match all the bids from their Premier League rivals.
Mudryk was desperate to move to the Emirates in January but was powerless when Shakhtar accepted Chelsea’s £88m offer.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
