Arsenal remain confident of signing despite preparing a bid for the captain, according to reports.
The Gunners have seen two bids for the England international rejected by West Ham this month, .
West Ham are holding out for a fee in excess of £100m for Rice and their hopes of a bidding war this summer have been boosted with Manchester City’s interest.
According to , City have contacted Rice’s representatives and feel that the midfielder would join them if an agreement can be reached with West Ham.
However, Arsenal are said to still be confident of completing a deal with West Ham and are now preparing a third offer.
Reports this month have claimed that Rice’s preference has been to join Arsenal, with Mikel Arteta making him one of his priority targets.
It’s understood that during international duty with England over the past week, Rice had the expectation of joining Arsenal by the start of July.
Arsenal have verbally indicated that they would be willing to increase their bid to £100m, although they may need to go even higher depending on City’s offer.
City are also on the verge of completing a deal to sign Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea, while they are set to lose Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer to Barcelona.
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