Simon Jordan believes West Ham United should value Declan Rice at higher price than Jude Bellingham
Simon Jordan believes West Ham United should value Declan Rice at the same price, if not higher, than Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham this summer.
Rice, 24, is widely expected to leave the London Stadium this summer, with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all interested in his services.
The Telegraph (9 May) reported that the Hammers would be closely monitoring the situation around Bellingham in regard to the price they sell their captain for, and Jordan, speaking live on talkSPORT show White & Jordan (11 May), agreed with this notion.
“No footballer is worth £120million, forget about it, it’s not,” he said.
“But he [Rice] is only worth £120million because the market forces dictate the case. I would use it as a backstory, of course, I would.
“I would want Declan Rice to go for more than Jude Bellingham if I were David Sullivan because I wouldn’t be looking over at Bellingham and saying ‘what Borussia Dortmund get for Bellingham is their business and lucky for them’ because I’m not getting one copper-gold of that so I need to worry about what I am getting.
“When I can push back against the notion that he isn’t worth it, I will point over there and say, ‘this is the marketplace’. I would be asking for more money unless it really suited me.
“If they managed to get £150million for Bellingham, I would be turning around and saying, ‘this is the £150million marketplace.'”
Crazy money
Whatever price West Ham United manage to get for Declan Rice this summer, it is likely to set them in the transfer market for many years to come.
With both Rice and Bellingham two of the hottest prospects in the European game right now, and with plenty more years ahead for both of them, the prices are justified when compared to the market in recent years.
Considering the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk, Enzo Fernandez and Antony have all been sold for over £70 million in the last year, both midfielders should be valued in excess of this.
The only sticky part of the deal for the Hammers is the fact that Rice has only one year left on his contract, which could allow any prospective clubs to play hardball with the transfer negotiations.
Any of the clubs interested could theoretically step back from a deal and look to sign the England midfielder on a free contract next summer – however, this is extremely unlikely, and a move such as this would realistically just bring the final transfer fee down a touch.