Journalist David Ornstein has warned that Arsenal could lose out on Declan Rice if they leave it too long to sort out a transfer.

When can Arsenal bid for Rice?

The Premier League season ended yesterday as the Gunners thumped Wolves 5-0 at home having already secured a second-place finish.

At the other end of the table, the West Ham United captain saw his side lose 2-1 to Leicester City who were still relegated.

Unlike Arsenal, the Hamers however are not done with football this term quite yet as they will play their Europa Conference League final against Florentina on June 7 – exactly a week before the summer market opens.

This likely means the Gunners won't be able to do much negotiating with Rice, who is expected to be sold this summer for around £120m.

This may be concerning for the north London outfit as they'll want to get a deal done before other teams come in with their own bids.

While talking on NBC Sports, Ornstein explained the latest on it all, saying (1:12): “Declan Rice could be on the move. I would expect West Ham to sell this summer.

"He's got a year to go with an option to extend. But I think Arsenal are really strong on him. He's a priority for them in this market.

"No agreement so far. And the longer they leave it, others could come into the party as well. But that is really one to watch as we go forward."

Who else wants to sign Declan Rice?

It's quite likely that negotiations for the £60k-per-week midfielder won't be easy with manager David Moyes already claiming: "He is probably the best English midfield player around and that is why he is going to be extremely expensive if anybody comes calling.”

With that in mind, the Gunners can't really afford to try and haggle too much or else a rival may come in and hijack the deal with a bigger bid.

Indeed, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool are all also said to be interested in the England international and that could spell trouble for Arsenal.

Perhaps Edu Gaspar and co have learned their lesson from the Mykhailo Mudryk deal in January when they failed to get a deal across the line, allowing Chelsea to snap him up for £88.5m.

Then again, seeing as that deal hasn't exactly gone well for the Blues with the former Shakhtar Donetsk star now struggling, Arsenal will have to carefully weigh up just how much they are prepared to offer for Rice and just how quickly they want to do so in order to beat their rivals to the signing.