Arsenal have moved a step closer to clinching the record £92 million signing of Declan Rice, with West Ham identifying three players to replace their captain.
West Ham chairman David Sullivan confirmed he has given Rice his blessing to leave after clinching Europa Conference League success, with negotiations over a move to Arsenal now advancing.
The club want to spend the Rice windfall on Leicester City’s Harvey Barnes and midfielders James Ward-Prowse, who will leave Southampton, and Ajax’s Edson Alvarez.
West Ham are in pole position to land Barnes, but could face competition for Alvarez, who almost moved to Chelsea last summer, from Borussia Dortmund.
Rice is Arsenal’s priority target for the summer window and the north London club are hoping to move quickly to secure his signature in time for the start of pre-season.
Having lifted the Europa Conference League trophy on Wednesday night, Rice was named player of the competition by Uefa to complete a memorable 24 hours.
Rice is 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 on Wednesday night.
Telegraph Sport revealed last month that Arsenal have been working on structuring a deal worth £92m 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 for Bayer Leverkusen in the coming weeks. A deal worth around £13m is expected to be finalised imminently, with Xhaka ready to return to Germany.
If Arsenal are able to agree a deal for Rice, he will become the most expensive player in their history - ahead of £72m winger Nicolas Pepe, who failed to justify his fee at the Emirates Stadium after joining in the summer of 2019.
Asked on talkSPORT if Rice has played his final game for West Ham, Sullivan said: “I think it has to be. We promised him he could go. He set his heart on going.
“You can’t ask for a man who has committed more to us this season. In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement - or several replacements. It’s not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000-a-week 18 months ago. He turned it down.
“It’s cost him £10m to stay at West Ham in that time [in lost wages]. And he wants to go. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.”
Rice: ‘I love this club and I love playing for this club’
Pushed on whether bids have been received, Sullivan added: “No. But I think the offers will start to come today (Thursday). There are three or four clubs who have shown interest, but out of respect to West Ham, while we’re still playing, you don’t make offers for players. That’s not the way decent clubs do things.”
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?”
Barnes, who scored 13 Premier League goals despite Leicester’s relegation, is one of West Ham’s top targets and, currently, the London club are ahead of their rivals in the race to sign him.
Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United are interested in Barnes, but West Ham have made the most serious move so far and are expected to open negotiations with Leicester now their season is over.
Leicester are thought to value Barnes at around £40m, but relegation means that figure is expected to drop with West Ham likely to start the bidding closer to £30m.
There is an acceptance inside West Ham they will not be able to replace Rice’s qualities with one player, which is why both Ward-Prowse and Alvarez have been targeted to form a new-look midfield.
Ward-Prowse would offer more creativity and goalscoring threat from set-pieces and would fill the leadership void left by Rice, having captained Southampton, while Alvarez is more defensive minded and, like Rice, is physically imposing and can play as a defensive midfielder or centre-back.
West Ham are also admirers of Kalvin Phillips, but the England international wants to stay at Manchester City for at least another season.
