Declan Rice ‘highly unlikely’ to stay at West Ham next season – reliable journo
West Ham may have to be resigned to losing their star man Declan Rice in the summer as clubs circle to take him away from the London Stadium.
The 23-year-old is wanted by most of the Premier League’s top clubs including Manchester United and Chelsea [The Telegraph] but he would cost more than £100million.
According to Eurosport journalist Dean Jones, however, the England international is still unlikely to be a Hammer next season unless they qualify for the Champions League.
“The other day I spoke to somebody close to Declan Rice and they said it’s highly unlikely he stays at West Ham beyond this season,” Jones said, speaking to Give Me Sport.
“But if they secure Champions League football, then that does change things and he would be far more tempted to see things out for another season, so let’s see if that can happen.”
Faint hope
As if West Ham needed any more motivation to try and secure Champions League qualification for the first time in their history, then it’s been provided.
The Irons’ immediate success could almost completely depend on where Rice is playing his football from next season because they are not the same team without him.
We saw at Kidderminster in the FA Cup how he transforms the side in comparison to backup midfielder Alex Kral and his partnership with Tomas Soucek has flourished under David Moyes.
They need to throw everything at this season to try and qualify for the Champions League to give themselves a chance of keeping the 23-year-old.
He might still leave, and no West Ham fan could begrudge him really after everything he has given the club over the past five years, no matter how painful his exit will be.
In other West Ham news, the club are in talks with a club legend over a role behind-the-scenes at the London Stadium.