Arsenal confident of beating Chelsea to sign West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice as he tops transfer shortlist

Arsenal are reportedly growing confident that they will beat rivals Chelsea to sign West Ham midfielder Declan Rice in the summer.

According to the Times on 1 March, Rice is likely to cost about £80million as he's expected to leave the Hammers in the summer.

He is at the top of the Gunners' shortlist and manager Mikel Arteta wants to bring in two new midfielders at the end of the season.

Invite new bidders

There surely will be sides capable of outbidding Arsenal for Rice and they may consider entering the race late for the England international.

He's undoubtedly one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe and is only going to get better due to his age and potential which is currently sky high.

Rice is one of the players who can strengthen most if not all sides in the top five leagues and we'll be really surprised if sides like PSG, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid do not try to lure him away from the Premier League.

Even Liverpool have recently been urged to secure his services.

This can only be a good thing for West Ham as they can make the most money from a player who cost them nothing as he's an academy prospect.

Sure, they may hate losing their best player but they had made peace with it a while ago that he will be leaving the club and that's very likely to happen.

Chelsea are currently in the Champions League but won't be qualifying next season while Arsenal could make it four Premier League titles this term and will definitely be in Europe's elite club competition.