Exclusive: Extraordinary Chelsea spree to continue with huge Declan Rice bid

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Published on:

25 Aug 2020, 1:30 am

Chelsea are planning to table a massive offer for West Ham star man Declan Rice at the end of the summer, Football Insider understands.

The west Londoners have embarked on an extraordinary recruitment drive that has put them on course to spend more money than in any previous transfer window.

A Chelsea source has told Football Insider the club are looking to extend their overhaul by offering a player-exchange deal for Rice worth £70million in total.

The Blues had last month offered three of their first-team stars in part-exchange for Rice but are set to return with a new bid made up of a vast cash sum and just one first teamer.

The offer, including the player, will be worth £70m in total.

Chelsea have been given encouragement over a potential deal by both West Ham and the player himself.

But Frank Lampard's team are set to bide their time over a formal move until closer to the 5 October transfer deadline.

They need to raise cash by offloading multiple players and will listen to offers for more than 10 of them.

Lampard and his assistant Jody Morris are both big admirers of the versatility and pedigree of Rice.

They like the fact the the England international can play in defence and central midfield, and believe he has the potential to play at elite Premier League and Champions League level.

Chelsea have agreed a deal rising to £90million for Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Kai Havertz and are confident of signing Ben Chilwell from Leicester City for £50m.

With Thiago Silva also on the verge of signing on a free transfer, Chelsea’s total outlay during this window is set to rocket beyond £200 million, surpassing the total spent by the club during the summer of 2017.

In other West Ham news, Moyes has made a U-turn over signing an England international barely seen over the past two seasons.

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