As Arsenal work on a move to convince West Ham to sell them Declan Rice, they could lose out on Romeo Lavia’s deal, as per the Daily Express.
Arsenal are keen to revamp their midfield. Xhaka and Partey are tipped to leave, and in their place, Rice and Lavia are to be introduced. But Arsenal’s pursuit of Lavia has been “quiet.” For Rice, his swoop has been extensively reported.
At the moment, all signs point to the West Ham midfielder joining Arsenal. The Gunners have had their two hefty bids for him rejected; the second bid was about £90 million, but they are expected to return for him.
With Havertz’s deal sealed, all Arsenal will focus on now is sealing Rice’s signature. While they put all their concentration into pulling off the headline swoop for the West Ham midfield engine, Chelsea may go behind their backs and beat them to Lavia’s deal.
After allowing Jorginho (back in January), Mateo Kovacic, Ngolo Kante, and probably soon Mason Mount to leave, Chelsea needs to add some fresh blood to their midfield, and Lavia could be that target.
Unlike other transfer links to Rice, Havertz, and Timber, for whom Arsenal has been dubbed favourites, Lavia has not. Arsenal ought to be wise to pay the fee the Saints want for their prodigy because Chelsea may repeat a Mudryk trick on the midfielder. Also, recently,, the Blues hired Joe Shields, who shares a strong relationship with the player as he signed the Belgian at Southampton.
Daniel O