Transfer News: West Ham United superstar Declan Rice prefers to join Chelsea over Manchester United
According to the Evening Standard, West Ham United superstar Declan Rice prefers to team up with Chelsea rather than Manchester United in the future. He has been one of the best holding midfielders in world football over the past two years, earning lots of plaudits for his displays at the club and country during that period.
Rice will see his current contract with West Ham expire in 2024, but his club has the option to extend it by another year. Prising him away would no doubt be challenging to say the least, especially when they are adamant that he will not be sold. Moreover, they have also set a mind-blowing £150million price tag to ward off interests.
However, the Blues have been handed a boost as the Englishman maintains his preference to join them despite the uncertainty surrounding the club. He had rejected two proposals from the Hammers as the latter remains keen to extend his current deal with a lucrative extension. He is committed to the cause under David Moyes despite the two refusals so far.
Chelsea to beat Man Utd for Rice?
Any move for the 23-year-old is difficult due to various reasons, like the transfer ban, his long contract, Moyes’ team’s stance etc. Even the presence of Man United, who are one of the top contenders, and other top clubs are roadblocks that we need to overcome. That is not all, as our current situation also makes it challenging to see us continue the pursuit.
We were interested in the Premier League midfielder, but the pursuit has been put to a stop following the imposed restrictions, which prevents us from facilitating transfer dealings at this moment in time. Even if a sale does take place, the West London side’s future stance would depend on the new owners and their policies.
As such, there are a lot of things that would need to line up in our favour for us to sign the Hammers ace. That is without considering his commitment to his current side, which rules out the possibility that he would demand a future departure. It may be best if we look elsewhere for a midfield signing with Moyes looking to build his team around Rice.
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Jorginho and N’Golo Kante have entered the twilight of their playing careers, and replacing them would be a challenging task for us indeed. Billy Gilmour is the only option, who is close enough to make it with the first team in that position, but it would be a huge task for him to undertake.
Rice would no doubt be a great prospect, but we should not be desperate to bring him in because of all obstacles. After all, we also have AS Monaco’s Aurelien Tchouameni on our radar, who is rated at a far better price of £42million. A move for Tchouameni seems sensible as it enables us to save money and use it to bolster other positions.