Arsenal are said to be ‘very confident’ that they will complete the signings of Kai Havertz and Declan Rice this summer. The Gunners are in the advanced stages of negotiations with both players and remain strong favourites to snap up their top priority targets.
Chelsea recently turned down Arsenal’s opening bid for Havertz and are hoping to secure a fee in the region of £70million. Arsenal’s valuation of the player is believed to be much lower and the west Londoners will be forced to compromise if they hope to make a sale in the coming weeks.
Bayern Munich remain interested in the 24-year-old but according to Sky Sports Germany, they are yet to make an official offer. However, the Bavarian giants do have a transfer meeting scheduled for next week.
Arsenal also had their opening bid for Rice rejected recently. An initial offer of £80m came in much lower than West Ham’s £120m asking price.
Football.London claim that Arsenal are keen on keeping the fee at eight figures but may have no choice with Manchester City preparing a bid of their own.
Rice is said to have his heart set on moving to the Emirates but the allure of joining Pep Guardiola‘s treble-winning side may make things a little more difficult for Arsenal.
West Ham’s chairman, David Sullivan, revealed earlier this month that Rice will be allowed to leave in the summer despite having two years left on his existing deal. When asked whether winning the Europa Conference League would be his final act for the club, Sullivan told talkSPORT: “I think it has to be. We promised him he could go.
“He set his heart on going and in due course he has to get on and we have to get a replacement. It is not something we wanted to happen. We offered him £200,000 a week 18 months ago and he turned it down. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.
“I think the offers will start to come. Three or four clubs have shown interest but out of respect to West Ham, while we’re still playing, you don’t make offers for players.”
