Transfer News: West Ham United have no intention of letting Chelsea target Declan Rice leave this summer
According to popular Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano (via Caught Offside) (h/t Football.London), West Ham have absolutely no intention to sell talented English midfielder Declan Rice amidst interest from Chelsea.
Chelsea’s interest in Declan Rice is not new news with the Blues said to be long-time admirers of the talented West Ham midfielder. The defensive midfielder has been one of the best players in the Premier League for quite some time now.
His pairing with Thomas Soucek at the base of the Hammers midfield has been a key factor in the renaissance of David Moyes’ team in recent seasons. West Ham have been much improved in the past couple of seasons and find themselves in the mix for European football nowadays.
Rice joined the youth setup at West Ham in 2013 and broke through into the first team in 2017. Starting off as a centre-back initially, the English talent has now found his home at the base of midfield as a single pivot or as a part of a double pivot.
The 23-year-old played 48 times for Moyes’ side last season scoring four goals and providing four assists across all competitions. He now finds himself as a mainstay even in the English national team under Gareth Southgate and featured extensively in the Euros last year.
It’s not surprising that Chelsea are interested in signing the talented midfielder but they will have to spend big money on a player they could have had for free. Rice is a former reject of the Cobham academy and now the Blues will have to bring out the cheque book to sign the Englishman.
Chelsea have quite a few talented midfielders coming through the ranks and in Conor Gallagher and Billy Gilmour, they have two young midfielders with sky-high potential. Adding Rice to the mix would be perfect and would have the Blues’ midfield sorted for many years to come.
Despite West Ham being reluctant to sell Rice, they will know that with the English midfielder’s contract expiring in 2024, it is now or never to get maximum value for their prized asset as his value is only set to keep dropping henceforth.
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The fact that he is a former Chelsea player means that the Blues could hold an advantage in signing the player whenever he leaves West Ham. If not now, there is a feeling that this transfer is bound to happen in the future.