West Ham ‘will delay talks with Declan Rice over his future until after June 7’ in blow to Arsenal

West Ham will put talks with Declan Rice regarding his future on hold until after June 7, according to reports. 

Club captain Rice is expected to leave the London Stadium this summer amid serious links to Premier League title challengers Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners are keen to wrap up their summer transfers early, like they did last season when Manchester City pair Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus arrived before August.

Arsenal have identified Rice as their No 1 target this summer and are favourites to secure his signature. 

But in a blow to the north London outfit, West Ham will reportedly delay meetings with Rice on his future for around a month.

Rice, 24, is expected to leave this summer ahead of serious transfer interest from Arsenal

The news will come as a blow to boss Mikel Arteta, who wants to wrap up his business early

According to the Metro, David Moyes’ side want to focus on their potential Europa Conference League final in Prague, Czech Republic, on June 7 before speaking to defensive midfielder Rice.

West Ham face Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in their Europa Conference League semi-final second-leg tie on Thursday, leading 2-1 from the first leg in London last week. 

Rice could also be involved with England Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia on June 16 and 19.

Both the club and Rice are keen to concentrate on potentially winning a historic trophy at the end of the season.

However, West Ham increasingly acknowledge their star man could well leave at the end of the season.

They value him at around £120million but would accept £100m with a player or two coming the other way as part of the deal. 

Arsenal are ready to offer £90m for Rice as they look to mount another title push next season.

They are also preparing to offer a £300,000-a-week deal to land Rice and will potentially offload Granit Xhaka amid interest from Bayer Leverkusen.