{{primary_category}}
{{/primary_category}} 
West Ham United braced for 'Crazy situation' as Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool want Declan Rice - Gianluca Di Marzio
Gianluca Di Marzio expects Declan Rice to join Arsenal from West Ham this summer, but hasn’t ruled out Chelsea trying to sign him.
Rice is expected to leave the London Stadium for Champions League football, with Arsenal or Chelsea considered to be his most likely destinations as he prefers a stay in London.
And while Di Marzio believes that West Ham will do everything they can to keep him, the Sky Italia journalist admits that he wouldn’t be surprised to see Chelsea pull out all of the stops to sign Rice just to stop him from going to a rival club.
“I think he could move to Arsenal but it also depends on West Ham,” he said, speaking to MyBettingSites.co.uk (23 March).
“We are talking about Declan Rice every year but West Ham really tries to keep him.
“Arsenal or Liverpool is the most likely destination for him. I don’t think he will move to Chelsea as they have a lot of players in their midfield.
Subscribe to Football Insider TV now
“But I’m sure that they will try to get him if they know that he is close to signing for Arsenal only because they don’t want him to go there. Chelsea are buying players like it’s a game and it’s a crazy situation right now at Chelsea.”
Bidding war
West Ham want to keep Declan Rice, but the harsh reality of the situation is that it isn’t up to West Ham if they can keep him for next season.
Top clubs are circling and can offer money and footballing reasons that the Hammers simply can’t, and the player himself has made it quite clear that he would like to push on to the next level of his career.
But while he may have a preference of which club he wants to join, West Ham will be hopeful that they can incite a bidding war between the interested parties to drive the price up and get as much as possible.
There has been talk of the Irons demanding a British record fee, which would have to eclipse the £105m that Chelsea spent on Enzo Fernandez in January, while other reports suggest he could cost as little as £70m.
But the more interested parties competing with each other, the more money that will end up in the pockets of West Ham for a replacement and to help strengthen the rest of the squad for next season either in the Premier League or the Championship.