West Ham United captain Declan Rice is expected to leave the London Stadium this summer amid close links to Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners are keen to close the summer transfer window early, as they did last season when Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus arrived at the Emirates before August. Arsenal have identified Rice as their number 1 target in the summer and they are seen as the leading candidate to buy the star born in 1999.
However, Arsenal received a strong blow in this deal. Specifically, a source from Metro confirmed West Ham are expected to delay meetings with Rice about the future of the mainstay for about a month. Accordingly, David Moyes’ army wants to focus on the Europa Conference League final in Prague, Czech Republic on June 7 before talking with Rice.
West Ham delay discussing Rice’s future.
West Ham will face AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League semi-final second leg on Thursday and are leading 2-1 after the first leg in London last week.
Rice could also qualify for England’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia on June 16 and 19. Both the club and Rice want to focus on the possibility of winning the historic title at the end of the season.
Lu Feng | 21:35 May 16, 2023
