Arsenal in “sustained contact” with £80m midfielder – Summer move likely

According to the latest report from Football Insider, Arsenal are in a pole position to sign Declan Rice from West Ham United. The report claims that the Gunners are in “sustained contact” with Declan Rice’s team of representatives, with a summer transfer looking very likely at this point in time.

It was reported by The Top Flight earlier today that Arsenal had given a one-year contract extension to Mohamed Elneny. This leads fans to believe that Mikel Arteta will only desire one midfielder in the summer instead of two, particularly when you consider the deadline day signing of Jorginho.

However, strengthening the midfielder remains a key priority for Arsenal in their summer plans. It’s important to note that Elneny won’t be available until the middle of next season, so the Gunners have just three options to play in the midfield two.

It’s been known for some time that Arsenal want to sign Declan Rice, however the extent to which they remain interested was unknown until now. Considering the consistent dialogue between club and player leads me to believe that the deal will go ahead. It was also reported by The Top Flight a week ago that Declan Rice had been asking around about what working at Arsenal is like.

With Rice, Mikel Arteta is getting everything he needs and more in a midfielder. One thing Thomas Partey does very well is holding the line and reading the play well to step in and intercept loose balls. Rice also provides this so adding him to the mix would make the Arsenal midfield truly unbreakable.

Arteta has given the board plenty of reason to back him and winning the Premier League title would bring in extra revenue for the Spanish boss to utilise. This would cover the rumoured £70m-£80m valuation of Rice.

Do you think Arsenal will sign Declan Rice?