West Ham United boss David Moyes still thinks Declan Rice will break the British transfer record amid strong links with Arsenal.
The Gunners were desperate to add a midfielder in the late stages of the January window.
Moises Caicedo was a top target before Arsenal ended up signing Jorginho from Chelsea on deadline day.
Arsenal did have other targets but some just weren’t going to happen in January.
One such target was Declan Rice, who West Ham were never going to sell in the middle of the season.
The Telegraph claim that Rice is Arsenal’s top summer target and any January deal for a midfielder wouldn’t change that.
London Evening Standard even suggest that Arsenal are already working on a deal to sign Rice in the summer as Mikel Arteta looks to bolster his engine room.
David Moyes expects huge fee for Arsenal target Declan Rice
The Mirror claimed last week that there is a belief West Ham will sell Rice for around £60million in the summer.
Rice is inside the final 18 months of his West Ham contract, though the Hammers can activate a one-year option on that deal.
West Ham ideally wouldn’t sell Rice at all but with the midfielder having Champions League aspirations, an exit seems inevitable at some point.
Yet if Arsenal thought a £60million deal was in the pipeline, they may need to think again.
West Ham boss David Moyes has outlined that he expects Rice to be a British transfer record whenever he leaves the London Stadium.
Moyes told talkSPORT that Rice showed what a ‘top player’ he is during the first half of Saturday’s draw at Newcastle United.
Moyes suggested that Rice will blow the £107million Chelsea have spent on Enzo Fernandez ‘out of the water, laying down the gauntlet for any Arsenal deal this summer.
“I don’t know if I need to say the words, I think you can say the words if you watched it the way I saw it,” said Moyes. “I thought he was a top player in the first half, he really was, he showed so many things. Undoubtedly Declan is going to be a top player. And undoubtedly he’ll be a British transfer record and more whenever he leaves West Ham.”
“I hope it’s not, I hope he sees his time here. But look, there’s a lot of talk about it and when you see what’s going about for the prices. I think Declan will be blowing that (British record) out of the water, that’s for sure, when it comes around,” he added.
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