The Athletic reporter Roshane Thomas has recently discussed a recent transfer link regarding West Ham United’s Declan Rice.
According to a report from The Sun last week, Frank Lampard’s Chelsea are ready to make a firm bid for the Irons’ English midfielder.
Supposedly, David Moyes’ outfit value Rice at around the £80m mark and the Hammers ‘won’t make it easy’ for the Blues to ‘strike a deal’ for him.
However, in the latest episode of The Athletic’s U Irons podcast, Thomas discussed the transfer link and aired his belief that the London Stadium faithful should remain calm.
He said: “As far as [I’m] concerned, in terms of the possibility of Declan Rice leaving, fans should be optimistic in the fact that David Moyes will not have that. The gist I get from him from press conferences is that he is against selling Declan Rice.
“When you think about it, it would make no sense whatsoever for West Ham to sell Declan Rice right now.
“The guy’s 21, under contract. Fair enough, if in two years’ time you’re like, ‘fair enough, you’ve given us your all, we can let you go to a bigger club now.’
“And who knows, in two years’ time, he’ll probably be worth even more, so financially, it doesn’t make [any] sense selling him right now whatsoever in my opinion.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, he believes supporters should be “optimistic” about their chances of keeping Rice this summer.
Do you believe Declan Rice will leave West Ham this summer?
No, I think he'll stay
Yes, I think he'll go
However, with The Sun’s recent report stating that Chelsea are ‘prepared to play the long game’ in their pursuit of the Englishman, it will be interesting to see how this pans out.
It is also stated that the Blues ‘know they are in a strong position’ and that they may be able to ‘push the fee well down’ from the £80m that the Irons are reportedly after.
Therefore, that report would suggest that the London Stadium faithful may have reason to be concerned, despite Thomas’ attempts to allay fans’ fears of Rice exiting the club this summer.