Sam Delaney and Roshane Thomas discussed all things West Ham United on the most recent edition of The Athletic’s U Irons podcast and during the show, Thomas shed some light on “West Ham’s stance” on the potential sale of Declan Rice, amid reports linking him with a move to Chelsea.
It has recently been reported that Chelsea are preparing to make a move for Rice before the current Premier League transfer window closes on 5th October.
The England international was a Chelsea player at youth level until leaving the club to join West Ham in the summer of 2013, as per Transfermarkt.
Now, it appears as though a return to Stamford Bridge may be on the cards for the 21-year-old, with Blues boss Frank Lampard said to be ‘keen to continue addressing his problems in defence’.
So, with it appearing as though Chelsea are interested in making this deal happen, here is what Thomas had to say about the Hammers’ stance on this potential deal during the latest edition of The Athletic’s U Irons podcast:
“West Ham’s stance is that Declan Rice [is] still not for sale but as we saw with the [Grady] Diangana case, all Chelsea have to do is make a bid and then the situation could change.
“They haven’t made any bids yet but you sort of expect them to make a bid because they [have] struggled so much defensively so far this season.
“A lot’s going to happen during the next seven days, in my opinion, so it remains to be seen.”
Do you think West Ham would be able to successfully replace Rice if he is sold in this transfer window?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
Judging by Thomas’ comments on the situation, it appears that while the Irons are not actively trying to sell Rice, they may be open to selling him should Chelsea come in with a high enough bid for the player.
This may be concerning for West Ham fans, as it may be fair to say that Rice has been a fairly crucial player for the East London club of late.
Last season, Rice played a full 90 minutes in all 38 of the Irons’ Premier League games, earning an impressive overall WhoScored rating of 7.01 from those performances, making him their fourth-highest-rated player in the league last term.
Meanwhile, Rice has also played 90 minutes in each of West Ham’s first three league games this season so far, earning a positive overall WhoScored rating of 7.31 from those games, making him their third-highest-rated player in the league for the 2020/21 campaign at present.
With that in mind, hopefully, for West Ham, they have got a suitable replacement lined up should they decide to sell Rice in the final week of the transfer window, or else his departure, should it happen, might leave a significant hole in their squad.