Di Marzio claims that Chelsea could beat Arsenal in the race to sign Declan Rice
Transfer journalist Gianluca di Marzio claims that Chelsea could beat their London rivals Arsenal in the race to sign West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice.
Chelsea have been a long-term admirer of Rice, with the player representing the club at the youth level before moving to the eastern side of London.
In the last few months, Arsenal have joined the race as they look to bolster their midfield department in the summer. The Guardian has reported that the player could prefer a move to the Gunners instead of the Blues. Di Marzio thinks otherwise and stated the reason in sync with what Chelsea did in the January window – playing a video game.
We have seen a transfer story involving both clubs as recently as in January. Mykhaylo Mudryk was wanted by Arsenal and the player was closing in on a move, only for Chelsea to step in, offer more money and hijack the move.
Rice has played a lot of big games for the national team in the last 18 months, be it all the knockout games of the Euro 2021 or the crunch games in the World Cup 2022 before the quarter-final exit.
While in Qatar, the player expressed his desire to play for a club where winning the biggest of trophies is possible consistently. With all due respect, West Ham are not in that position.
Having broken the British transfer record to sign Enzo Fernandez in January, we won’t be surprised if Chelsea are ready to fork similar money out to sign Rice. The 24-year-old could potentially form a title-challenging midfield partnership with Fernandez.
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But, it won’t be easy as Arsenal are guaranteed to offer the Champions League next season, while the Blues have to win it this season to do the same. Will the player see this as a condition to join the next club? We never know.