Rangers legend Ally McCoist has jokingly tipped Chelsea to repeat their Mykhailo Mudryk antics and hijack Arsenal's plans to sign Declan Rice.
Mudryk had looked destined to join Arsenal but somehow the Shakhtar Donetsk winger completed an £88.6million move to Chelsea.
It has since emerged that the Gunners had matched Chelsea's bid for Mudryk but Chelsea's co-owner Behdad Eghbali and director of global transfers Paul Winstanley travelled to Turkey on Saturday, where Shakhtar are training, and returned to London with the player on their private jet.
As Arsenal get over the frustration of losing Mudryk to their rivals, they have made Declan Rice their top summer target and are willing to break their transfer record to land the West Ham star.
The Hammers are after £100million for their star man but there looks to be little hope of the east London club receiving that fee from the interested parties.
Speaking on TalkSPORT, McCoist joked: 'I think Chelsea will come and get him now that Arsenal have showed some interest actually... We'll be picking up the paper tomorrow and see that Declan's awaiting the Bridge again.'
Host and Arsenal fan Laura Woods replied: 'Ally - I would go and pick him up myself, I would turn my car on, I would drive to wherever he lives, I would pack his suitcases for him. Will you help me?'
Praising Rice's worth, McCoist added: 'In all seriousness, what a signing he would be for Arsenal. What a signing he would be for anyone.
'It's not what west ham untied fans want to hear this morning particularly, or any morning for that matter.'
Having turned down a number of contract offers, expectation at West Ham is that Rice will leave this summer with his current deal only running until 2024.
In January 2021, when Chelsea's interest in the player first came to the fore, David Moyes, the West Ham manager, said it would take Bank of England and Bank of Scotland money to persuade the east London club to sell.
'No matter who was the manager at Chelsea, or whoever came in, it would have been the same answer,' Moyes said.
'I said it right at the start and I'm only repeating myself - Bank of England money would be required, and you might even need to add Bank of Scotland on to that as well because he has been so good.'