Man Utd ‘will offer’ more than Arsenal for Arteta’s top target but report lists five alternatives
West Ham are expecting Premier League rivals Man Utd to offer more than Arsenal for Declan Rice this summer, according to reports.
The England international’s performances over the past few seasons for club and country have led to a lot of interest in his services from top Premier League clubs.
Widespread reports have indicated that Arsenal have now made him their top transfer target for the summer transfer window with Mikel Arteta desperate to improve his midfield depth.
West Ham want around £100m for his services in the summer with the Hammers holding an option to extend his contract by another year when it expires at the end of June 2024.
And Rice could prove so expensive, along with fellow Arsenal target Moises Caicedo, that they could have to put all other targets on pause in the next transfer window.
The Daily Mail claim that Arsenal do ‘have other options on their list’ if for any reason it doesn’t work out with the Gunners preparing a ‘structured £90m offer’ for Rice.
However, West Ham ‘want considerably more and believe Manchester United will offer it’ but ‘Arsenal hope Rice wants to stay in London’.
If it doesn’t work out with Rice then Arsenal ‘retain their interest in Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi, Ruben Neves of Wolves and Moises Caicedo’ while ‘creative support for Martin Odegaard’ could come in the form of Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan and Chelsea’s Mason Mount.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing for Rice at West Ham with the Hammers embroiled in a relegation battle for much of this season before making themselves safe recently.
He was criticised by Graeme Souness earlier this year for not possessing all the attributes needed to be a top midfielder with Roy Keane backing up his fellow Sky Sports pundit.
To which Rice responded in March: “It’s harsh. I think it’s harsh because Souness doesn’t watch West Ham every week. There’s loads of West Ham fans, 60,000 go every week, and see what I do. To say I’m only good at one of three is harsh.
“But Souness was a top midfielder and when someone like him speaks you have to sometimes listen and take on board where you can improve if that’s true.
“Roy as well, he’s said some glowing things about me in the past and sometimes some things I can improve as well. You take it with a pinch of salt and try not to let it affect you.
“I try not to read too much. I don’t really know about anything that’s going on in the world at the minute because I’ve come off all that social media stuff. I couldn’t tell you who’s playing.
“Someone really close to me said the other week I always look at other clubs in terms of fixtures and results and they just said we can only worry about ourselves.”
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