Mikel Arteta is looking to strengthen his squad this summer as Arsenal prepare for a return to Champions League football and another Premier League title bid.
West Ham midfielder Declan Rice is among their top targets, with Arteta keen to bring the England international to the Emirates. Rice is expected to be on the move this summer and has previously expressed his desire to play Champions League football, something Arsenal can now offer him with West Ham currently 15th after qualifying for Europe for the past two seasons.
"One hundred per cent I want to play in the Champions League," Rice said during the World Cup in Qatar. "For the last two or three years I've been saying that. I've been playing consistently well for my club and I feel like I really want to keep pushing.
"I see my friends here [with England], who are playing Champions League and competing for big trophies. You only get one career and at the end of it you want to look back at what you've won and the biggest games you've played in. I really want to do that."
And former Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi could end up playing a key role in Rice potentially joining the Gunners, with the Athletic reporting that West Ham view him as a potential replacement for Rice. Guendouzi made a total of 82 appearances after joining them from Lorient in 2018.
The midfielder initially starred under Unai Emery, but fell out with Arteta and was shipped out on loan to Hertha Berlin in 2020 before joining Marseille. The report states that the Hammers believe Guendouzi would 'fit in well' if they signed him this summer.
However, they are set to face competition from Aston Villa with Emery keen on a reunion with Guendouzi at Villa Park. Arsenal, meanwhile, have handed Arteta a budget of around £150m to spend this summer and the club's sporting director Edu insisted back in March they are "well-prepared" for the upcoming window.
"It's already started [preparation for the summer], you know what's happening [in] the market," he said. "Everybody's working, everybody's doing stuff, you have to plan ahead of people to be prepared, and when it gets to the summer, we are well-prepared. I think we are in the right place, in terms of planning.
"The performance of the team the way we are doing at the moment of course is special. I see around us everybody wants to follow us, watch us, I receive a lot of messages from Brazil, from South America, it's very nice to receive them.
"We are excited by the place we are at the moment, but we have to understand still it's a journey. There are still things to do, we are happy to be in the moment we are now, but we have to understand there are still things in front of us."
