West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan has confirmed Declan Rice will be sold this summer, with Arsenal ready to make a formal approach for the midfielder after he led the Hammers to European glory in Prague on Thursday night.
The Gunners have made Rice their top summer transfer target but the England midfielder put talks over his future on hold until after the Europa Conference League Final.
Arsenal wanted to wait until after West Ham played Fiorentina before making an opening bid, to ensure they did not cause any disruption to the Hammers or Rice.
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has confirmed the club will sell Rice this summer and Arsenal are now set to make an approach for the 24-year-old, who turned down a £200,000-a-week deal to stay at West Ham.
The Hammers have set an asking price of £120million for Rice but Arsenal hope to strike a deal for closer to £90m.
Rice is attracted to the idea of playing for Arsenal but also has interest from Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
“We promised him he could go,” Sullivan told talkSPORT on Thursday morning. “He set his heart on going.
“You can’t ask for a man who has committed more to us this season. In due course, he has to get on and we have to get a replacement - or several replacements.
“It’s not something we want to happen. We offered him £200,000 a week 18 months ago [and] he turned it down. It’s cost him £10million to stay at West Ham in that time (in lost wages).
“He wants to go. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.”
Speaking about his future after West Ham beat Fiorentina 2-1 on Wednesday night, Rice said: “There’s a lot of speculation going on about my future.
“Obviously here is interest from other clubs, that’s out there, but ultimately I’ve still got two years left at West Ham.
“I love this club, I love playing for this club. There hasn’t been anything yet. My focus is playing for West Ham, enjoying tonight and seeing what happens. I’m captain of this club and absolutely love it to pieces.
“I cannot speak highly enough of this place, let’s just see what happens.”
