Sources: West Ham will accept Declan Rice summer bid after multiple offers submitted
West Ham will not stand in the way of Declan Rice joining a Champions League giant in the summer if their asking price is met, sources have told Football Insider.
The Irons star man, 24, is on the wish list of multiple elite clubs after further enhancing his reputation with England at the World Cup.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Man United are all keeping close tabs on Rice, who has rejected multiple offers to extend his West Ham contract.
He will not leave in the final two days of the January window – that was never really on the cards – but a summer move is expected by both West Ham and the player’s camp.
Rice’s current deal with the Irons runs until the summer of 2024 and the club have the option of another 12 months.
But the summer window offers West Ham the last realistic chance of securing a mammoth fee – of £80million-plus – for their prize asset.
West Ham wanted £100million for the England star in the summer of 2021 and then David Moyes insisted at his media conference last April that the price tag had rocketed and “£150m just now would be minimum”.
That was enough to temporarily put off the Premier League elite from making a move.
But his price tag has fallen as Rice’s contract runs down and the player will be in an even stronger negotiating position in the summer.
The top clubs all watched Rice closely at the World Cup and were impressed at how he dealt with the pressure of big matches with the microscope of the nation fixed on him.
He is ticking slowly towards 200 Premier League appearances and should reach the milestone before the end of the season – six years on from making his debut as an 18-year-old in 2017.
Rice has now racked up 39 England caps and looks sure to partner midfield sensation Jude Bellingham at the European Championships in Germany next summer (2024).
West Ham sit 16th in the Premier League and will be looking to pull four points clear of the drop zone when they return to top-flight action against Newcastle on Saturday (4 February).
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