Simon Jordan believes Declan Rice career won’t stall if he stays at West Ham
Simon Jordan has rubbished comparisons between Wilfried Zaha and Declan Rice and believes new West Ham owners could see him stay at the club.
Rice has been linked with a mega-money move away from the London Stadium, but reports that his £100m valuation is putting clubs off has drawn comparisons to the situation of Zaha at Crystal Palace over the last few years.
Responding to a fan’s question on One-2-One for talkSPORT, where they claimed they were worried Rice could stagnate if he didn’t leave, Jordan claimed they were different situations and doesn’t think Rice will ever ‘miss the boat’.
“Declan Rice is a completely different animal,” he said.
“He occupies a position that is a very rare breed of player plays in it. We’ve got a lot of wingers, we don’t have a lot of players who play the way Declan Rice does.
“West Ham are in a good moment in time. They’ve got a new ownership potentially going to take over from Gold and Sullivan so I don’t think we’re going to see Declan Rice at this stage of his career, or any stage of his career, appear to have missed the boat.
“He’s the mainstay of the England team to some extent. He’s the player that everyone is looking at thinking, ‘where is he going to go and how much is he going to go for?’.
“Is he worth £100m? Is any footballer worth £100m? My answer would be no, but he’s worth £100m if someone is prepared to write a cheque out for that. Of course he’s worth £100m by the standards that already exist, because Jack Grealish has gone for £100m.
“So I don’t think Declan Rice is going to fall into some sub-category that is going to include the Wilfried Zaha’s of the world.
“I think it’s a bit of a tragedy for Wilf that he didn’t get the big moves and when the big move did come it was too early in his career, but Declan Rice will be a star. No two ways about it.
“It’s just where he goes and the right move that he takes. If he stays at West Ham and they continue to evolve that’s great, if he moves to potentially a bigger club then it has to be the right bigger club because they have to be in the right condition. If it’s Manchester United people are talking about, you could argue that’s not the best move for him.”
Facts
Rice is a £100m player if you’re comparing him to other players in the market and when you take into consideration how important he is to West Ham.
With two years left on his contract plus the option for another year, there is no rush for the Hammers to sell for less and if they continue to progress then they have a reason to keep him.
Of course he is likely to want to progress at a faster pace, with Champions League football clearly in his destiny, but he knows the contract he signed and he won’t want to push for a move without the club getting what they deserve.
Top clubs know they’ll be severely weakening West Ham by signing him and strengthening themselves, no matter who they are, so they need to pay up or watch Rice continue to improve at the London Stadium.
The comparison to Zaha is fair, but West Ham are in a far better position than Palace have ever been and can demand the amounts they’re asking for because Rice is unique. Jordan, for once, is absolutely spot on.
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