West Ham United: Declan Rice could join Chelsea mid-season – reliable journalist
Declan Rice could leave West Ham United mid-season with Chelsea the main club interested in his services, according to Jacque Talbot.
The 23-year-old was offered a new deal at the London Stadium but declined the chance to sign it and his future with the Irons is now up in the air.
Talbot, who has previously written for The Times, The Mirror and The Guardian, believes that he may not wait until the summer to leave the club with the Blues keen.
“I know Chelsea are after Declan Rice, and I think Declan Rice will leave,” he said on his YouTube channel. “Between me and you, I think it might have been during the season, West Ham offered him a killer contract to Declan Rice to make him their most expensive player; he’s turned it down.
“I don’t know how long he’s got left, but let’s see how it goes with Declan Rice, I think he’s going to leave, though.”
No chance
Rice will leave the club at some point, that is seemingly inevitable but there is surely no way that the Hammers would sanction an exit in the middle of a season.
They know that his value right now is not likely to diminish much by the time the summer rolls around and if he still hasn’t signed a new deal, then he will be free to leave.
But there is absolutely nothing to gain from selling him in January just to get an extra £10million perhaps because his value to the team is greater than that difference.
David Moyes needs him to play as much as possible to try and drag them towards their targets for the season in all competitions and he can’t do that if he is in Chelsea blue.
No matter what Todd Boehly turns up with in January, GSB have to say no and revisit the matter in the summer when there is ample time to sort out a way to replace such a brilliant player.