Arsenal are getting ready to start the bidding for Declan Rice, but will be significantly short of West Ham’s asking price for the influential midfielder.
The Hammers reportedly want an enormous £120m for the 24-year-old, a mammoth fee that doesn’t seem likely any club will meet and the Gunners are certainly going to try to drive the price down.
The England midfielder is one of Arsenal’s top transfer targets this summer but they do not have endless funds available to them, so cannot spend at will.
The Daily Mail reports that the Gunners will open talks with the Hammers starting at an offer of £90 for Rice, a fee which would break their club record of £72m which they, remarkably, paid for Nicolas Pepe four years ago.
The report also suggests that Arsenal are willing to offer the central midfielder around £300,000-a-week on a huge contract in north London.
That will be irrelevant, though, if West Ham do not accept the transfer fee that Arsenal are offering, which is well below the touted £120m that the Hammers want.
An asking price of £100m had widely been suggested and that seems much more realistic, although Arsenal are not going in at that level either.
Both Chelsea and Manchester United have also been linked with the 41-cap England star and West Ham will be hoping for a bidding war to break out.
The club are well aware that Rice is likely to leave, with Hammers manager David Moyes saying there is a ‘good chance’ he won’t be a West Ham player next season.
‘We honestly hope Dec stays, that’s the biggest thing. We would love for him to be a West Ham player, but we’re aware that might not be the case at the end of the season,’ Moyes told reporters last week.
‘So that’s one of the scenarios around planning. There are plans that we have Dec here but we’re also fully aware there is a good chance we won’t have him.’
MORE : West Ham manager David Moyes makes major admission over Arsenal and Man Utd transfer target Declan Rice
MORE : Former West Ham star Anton Ferdinand urges Declan Rice to snub Chelsea and Manchester United
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