Frank McAvennie: West Ham asking ‘obnoxious’ money for Declan Rice

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

The upcoming summer transfer window looks set to be a busy one for West Ham with one player in particular at the centre of it all.

23-year-old Declan Rice is being courted by some of the world’s biggest clubs having excelled at the London Stadium over the past few years and the Hammers don’t want to lose him.

They have put a huge £150million asking price on the England international’s head in a bid to fend off that interest and keep him for another season [Daily Mail].

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Ex-Irons striker Frank McAvennie thinks they will do just that as he believes the price they are asking is far too much for any player in football today.

“Nobody is going to pay that money,” McAvennie exclusively told West Ham Zone. “But as I keep saying, absolutely nothing on football surprises me anymore.

“If somebody was to pay that, I wouldn’t be surprised. I think the boy is a very good player but I don’t think anyone is worth £100million or £150million.

“In today’s market, yes, he is worth that but for me, personally, it’s an obnoxious amount of money. If anyone is going to be worth that it would be Declan because he’s different class at the moment.”

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David Moyes will hope that McAvennie is right with the 23-year-old being absolutely vital to his team’s performances but they are far from out of the woods yet.

Should an offer come in at one of his previous valuations (£100-120million) then the club may well just bite the bullet and take the money to begin a rebuild of the squad.

In other West Ham news, hear what McAvennie had to say about this Irons ace being omitted from the latest round of international games.

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