Arsenal Close to Record Transfer Signing of Declan Rice for £92 Million

He Arsenal is getting closer to securing the signing of the midfielder Declan Rice for a record £92 million. West Ham, the player’s current club, have identified three possible replacements for their captain, should his departure take place.

West Ham chairman David Sullivan has confirmed that he has given his blessing for Rice to leave after achieving Conference League success. Negotiations for his transfer to Arsenal are progressing rapidly.

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Arsenal intend to use the funds from the unexpected sale of Rice to sign Harvey Barnes from Leicester City, as well as midfielders James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez, who could leave Southampton and Ajax respectively.

While West Ham appear to be in the most advantageous position to sign Barnes, they could face competition from Álvarez himself, who came close to joining Chelsea last summer from Borussia Dortmund.

Declan Rice has become Arsenal’s priority target for this transfer window and the north London club will hope to finalize his transfer in time for the start of pre-season.

The 24-year-old, who recently lifted the Europa Conference League trophy with West Ham, has been named UEFA’s Player of the Tournament in recognition of his outstanding performance.

Although Bayern Munich and Manchester United have also shown interest in Rice, Arsenal are believed to be favorites to sign him. The player has been identified as the club’s main target by coach Mikel Arteta and sports director Edu.

Should Rice’s transfer go through, Arsenal would open the door for the departure of Granit Xhaka, who is expected to join Bayer Leverkusen in the coming weeks for around £13m. This would mean a key midfield move for Arsenal and set a new transfer record for the club.

Arsenal hope that Declan Rice will become a key player in their squad and manage to justify his high transfer fee, thus surpassing the performance of winger Nicolás Pepe, who has failed to stand out since his arrival at the club in the summer of 2019 by 72 million pounds.