Conflicting reports emerge over future of West Ham star Declan Rice
Conflicting reports have emerged over the future of Declan Rice as West Ham could face a battle to keep hold of their star midfielder in January.
Journalist Fabrizio Romano has reportedly said that Rice would ‘love’ to join Chelsea and he has already agreed personal terms with the Blues.
However, The Sun report that this isn’t the case and Chelsea haven’t even made contact with Rice.
The Sun quote Romano, speaking on his Here We Go podcast, as saying: “Declan Rice would still love to join Chelsea, I think they would try again for him in January, they already have an agreement on personal terms with him.”
But The Sun go on to say that they understand that “Chelsea have not yet agreed personal terms with the midfielder or made contact”.
Some Hammers fans expected Rice to leave the London Stadium this summer after Chelsea started spending outlandish amounts of money strengthening their side but the 21-year-old remained at West Ham.
Rice has established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet for Hammers boss David Moyes as the England international has played every minute of West Ham’s Premier League season.
This suggests that it would take a monumental bid from Chelsea if they were to convince David Gold and David Sullivan to part with their prized asset. But, if West Ham don’t improve this season and are drawn into another relegation battle, Rice may want to leave the club to play somewhere that matches his ability.
Hammers fans certainly won’t want to see Rice leave the London Stadium after becoming one of their club’s most important players in the last few years.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes needs to fix one problem area of his squad if the Hammers want to progress.