West Ham ready to step up interest in Leicester City man as Declan Rice nears Arsenal move

West Ham are ‘ready to step up’ their pursuit of Leicester City’s Harvey Barnes when Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal is confirmed, says talkSPORT.

Arsenal have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Rice from West Ham in a £105million deal. The move will arguably be the most high profile transfer of this summer’s transfer window and it’ll see the Hammers receive a healthy payday.

And it looks like David Moyes’ side might put some of their Rice millions towards a move for Barnes. The Leicester City man has been closely linked with a move to East London this summer with ExWHUemployee previously revealing that West Ham were readying a bid for the 25-year-old.

And now, talkSPORT have revealed on Twitter that West Ham are ‘ready to step up their interest’ in Barnes once Rice’s move to Arsenal is confirmed.

The Foxes have just sold James Maddison to Spurs for £40million, but knowing that West Ham are about to receive a lot of money from Arsenal for Rice, they might try and bump up Barnes’ price tag.

Barnes to West Ham though looks like an inevitable summer transfer.

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That wasn’t exactly a difficult task, but he still shone in a struggling team and put himself in the shop window with some excellent displays for the Berkshire outfit.

He has enhanced his chances of earning another loan exit since the end of his spell at Ruben Selles’ side, with the Blues’ man shining for Italy at the U20 World Cup.

Winning both the Player of the Tournament and Golden Boot awards, he stood out and that’s a real achievement considering the number of gifted players who participated in the tournament in Argentina.

What is Cesare Casadei’s situation at Chelsea?

Mateo Kovacic, Tiemoue Bakayoko and N’Golo Kante may have left the club and more midfielders could potentially. Carney Chukwuemeka may benefit from going out on loan, Mason Mount has been linked with a move away and Ruben Loftus-Cheek is on the verge of departing Stamford Bridge.

That wasn’t exactly a difficult task, but he still shone in a struggling team and put himself in the shop window with some excellent displays for the Berkshire outfit.

He has enhanced his chances of earning another loan exit since the end of his spell at Ruben Selles’ side, with the Blues’ man shining for Italy at the U20 World Cup.

Winning both the Player of the Tournament and Golden Boot awards, he stood out and that’s a real achievement considering the number of gifted players who participated in the tournament in Argentina.

What is Cesare Casadei’s situation at Chelsea?

Mateo Kovacic, Tiemoue Bakayoko and N’Golo Kante may have left the club and more midfielders could potentially. Carney Chukwuemeka may benefit from going out on loan, Mason Mount has been linked with a move away and Ruben Loftus-Cheek is on the verge of departing Stamford Bridge.

The likes of Youri Tielemans, Nampalys Mendy and James Maddison have already left the club and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the likes of Wilfred Ndidi, Denis Praet and Hamza Choudhury follow them, so they could need a couple of midfielders during the summer transfer window.

Casadei wasn’t exactly a world-beater at Reading – but he showed composure and adapted reasonably well to life in the EFL – so there’s a chance he could be a real asset under Enzo Maresca.

He’s certainly a gifted player and someone who has plenty of time to improve, so this would be a reasonably low-risk signing if they were able to sign him on loan.

Unfortunately for the Foxes, it would be difficult to see a permanent switch happening because his performances at the U20 World Cup would have impressed his current club, who will want to see him thrive in the English capital in the future.

But if a cheap loan deal can be negotiated, Leicester should definitely be looking to get an agreement over the line.