By Daniel Feliciano

22nd Nov, 2022 | 8:10pm

West Ham United dealt major transfer blow as they could be forced to sell Declan Rice for £70m

West Ham could be forced to sell Declan Rice for as little as £70m this summer as interest picks up for a transfer in 2023, according to The Telegraph.

Rice is currently contracted to the club until 2024 with a club option for a further year taking it to 2025, but the England international currently has no intention of signing a new deal meaning a transfer this summer is likely.

That has alerted Europe’s top clubs to the potential of signing him and according to journalist Matt Law, West Ham face the prospect of accepting a fee of around £70m rather than the £150m they have publicly spoken about.

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly watched Rice play for England in the World Cup win over Iran, and the Blues are believed to have already made their interest official along with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

Surely not

After all the talk and public stances about the future of Declan Rice, if West Ham don’t manage to secure a nine-figure sum for him when he leaves then it’s an embarrassment.

He is the best player this club have had in modern memory, and in the current market his price should be up there with the best midfielders in the world.

£70m is still an extraordinary amount of money, but after telling teams and media that he is worth £150m or £200m for the last year, selling him at such a huge discount would be a huge failure and a message to other clubs that we are pushovers in the market.

His exit seems inevitable, but we must get top dollar for him otherwise the entire thing is not worthwhile and well be made to look like fools.

His market value is with the top players and that means the top teams have to pay to get him, don’t let them walk all over us.