According to reports, a bidding war is set to begin for the transfer of Declan Rice this summer as German giants, Bayern Munich make their first move for the England midfielder.
According to Mirror Football, Bayern Munich have offered West Ham a package worth £95million for Arsenal’s main target, Declan Rice ahead of the summer transfer window.
Bayern Munich retained their Bundesliga title on Saturday after beating Dortmund on goal difference on a dramatic final day, and Thomas Tuchel’s side are determined to also beat Arsenal to the signing of 24-year-old.
Arsenal remain favourites, although Bayern Munich’s interest is serious as well as other teams also keen on the West Ham captain. Chelsea are another club monitoring the situation, however they can only make a move once they’ve sold players in order to comply with FFP rules.
Arsenal and Bayern Munich have both made contact with the player and it’s expected Rice will inform West Ham that his preference is to move to Arsenal this summer. The Gunners want Rice to replace Granit Xhaka, who looks set to join Bayer Leverkusen.
Arsenal want to bring in Declan Rice with Granit Xhaka close to leaving for Germany this summer. [Image Credit: Getty Images]
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Rice has spoken openly about his ambition to play in the Champions League and compete for the biggest trophies, and if there’s one club in England that look on the path to do that, then it’s hard to argue against Arsenal after the season the Gunners have in 2022/23, despite missing out on the Premier League title.
The Hammers are said to value their captain at around £120million, and although Arsenal’s offer isn’t expected to come near to that first time around, the Gunners are preparing their opening bid which will arrive after West Ham have played in the Europa Conference League final next week against Fiorentina.
A lack of depth meant Arsenal ran out of steam towards the end of the season which handed Manchester City their third Premier League title in a row and Mikel Arteta is determined to make sure the same doesn’t happen in 2023/24.
Declan Rice isn’t the only Premier League midfielder Arsenal are after this summer with Brighton’s Moises Caicedo also high up the list of targets ahead of next season. The Gunners want to bring in two new central midfielders this summer in order to provide more quality in depth.
Asked about Arsenal’s transfer business, Edu insisted he only wanted players who can take the club to the next level.
Edu on transfers: ‘It’s identifying very well where we can improve. If they are individual, isolated positions, if they are units, if they are ‘final third’, as we call it here, if they are midfield, defensive part.’
“Me and Arteta talking, we believe that we have a level to improve in terms of performance. And now make a good transfer window, understand the need, to hit the athlete, the characteristic, the mentality of the athlete we want, to once again raise the level of our squad.”
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