Report: Arsenal identify £40m star as Declan Rice alternative

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal reportedly see Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia as an alternative transfer if they struggle to sign Declan Rice in the summer.

The Mail reports that Arsenal is currently interested in the player. Sami Mokbel, who wrote the piece, tweeted that Lavia is currently an alternative option to primary target Rice.

Rice is open to joining Arsenal, but West Ham have placed a £100million price tag on him.

Lavia does not have a current price tag. Despite this, his value is somewhat known as Manchester City placed a £40million buy-back clause on him when they sold him to Southampton.

Southampton look destined to get relegated from the Premier League. Due to this, Lavia will no doubt hope he gets a move to a big club.

Arsenal interested in Lavia as Rice alternative

Despite only being 19, Lavia has demonstrated that he is a solid Premier League player. With him so young, he has the potential to become even better over the next few years.

Indeed, Goal.com named him in their list of the top nine youngsters in the world earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand said he had “tremendous” feet when he watched him earlier this season. He is definitely a good alternative option to Declan Rice.

Rice is obviously the best option as he is a lot more experience and arguably already world-class. Despite this it is good to see Arsenal have options.

With the club having an exceptional season in which they are surprisingly challenging for the title, it is good to see them already planning for the summer transfer window.

They will want to make sure they are challenging near the top again. It will also be the first time since 2016 that they have been in the Champions League.

If we start to see them heavily linked to Lavia, then it is probably due to the fact that they believe Rice is too expensive.