Exclusive: McAvennie backs Rice to stay at West Ham past January amid Chelsea speculation
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie believes West Ham will stand a much better chance of keeping Declan Rice if they qualify for Europe this season – or even simply by securing a top-half finish in the Premier League.
Rice, 21, has been strongly linked with a move to Stamford Bridge and The Athletic journalist David Ornstein had recently reported that “Rice to Chelsea is starting to feel a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if'”.
It is understood that the West Ham and England midfielder is Chelsea’s only serious transfer target going into the January window, which opens on Saturday.
However, McAvennie cannot see Rice leaving the London Stadium to head across the capital for a number of different reasons.
When asked if qualifying for Europe will be enough to keep Rice away from Chelsea, McAvennie told West Ham Zone: “I think it might do because he’s enjoying it, you can tell he’s enjoying the responsibility. He’s now performed as a midfield player and that was my biggest problem because he kept getting swapped and changed.
“I don’t know if he wants to go there now. Sitting in the midfield for West Ham will be better than playing at the back for Chelsea, that’s my opinion.
“He’s enjoying playing where he is. He’s doing the runs I always thought he could do. It wasn’t enough when he was just sitting with Mark Noble. He’s got a lot of legs around him now with Bowen, Soucek, Benrahma and Fornals.
“Rice will be pleased with the way West Ham are heading and if we get top-10, it will be enough [for him to stay].”
West Ham and Chelsea are both 16 games into the Premier League season but only three points currently separate the two London rivals with the Irons sat in 10th.
It would be a huge shock if David Sullivan, David Gold and David Moyes all agreed that Rice should be sold in the January transfer window if a bid comes in – even if it’s a ridiculous sum of money that Chelsea offer.
West Ham feel as though they’re onto something good this season, whether that be qualifying for Europe, going far in the FA Cup or something else. There’s just a good vibe surrounding the club despite the recent winless streak of four games.
The Hammers’ leadership would want to keep Rice to see out the season at least.
We don’t want to suggest in any way that the midfielder should be sold but we’d understand the decision to sell him a lot more in the summer than we would in January.
In other West Ham news, Mark Noble is pretty sure Moyes will get a new contract.