Football journalist Laurie Whitwell has been discussing the latest news surrounding a potential West Ham United exit for Declan Rice.
This comes after Whitwell recently made an appearance on the latest episode of The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman Podcast where he spoke about the biggest talking points concerning a number of Premier League clubs at this moment in time.
During the episode, Whitwell spoke about the latest news surrounding Rice after it was published in an article on The Athletic from Simon Johnson that revealed: “Chelsea are hoping Declan Rice will ignore any efforts by West Ham to convince him to sign a new contract because they are planning to make another attempt to sign him in January.”
On this topic, Whitwell had this to say on the matter.
He said: “It sounds like Chelsea still want Declan Rice – well, Frank Lampard still wants Declan Rice, I think is the main takeaway, and the fact that they’re wanting him not to sign a new contract at West Ham because they want to go back in for him [in] January, maybe that’d be too soon, but ultimately, it’s sort of like the piece I wrote about Erling Haaland last week that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer still wants him; in reality, is it going to definitely happen? That’s something to be decided, but I think the point still stands that if a manager wants a player, it’s worth us noting it down.”
Rice was linked with a move to Chelsea during the previous summer transfer window but ended up staying at West Ham, where he has played every minute of the club’s seven Premier League games so far this season (per Transfermarkt).
The midfielder’s performances in those seven league games have earned him a solid season rating of 7.02/10 (per WhoScored).
Do you think Chelsea will attempt to sign Rice in January?
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TIF Thoughts on Laurie Whitwell’s comments on Chelsea’s interest in Rice…
The fact that Chelsea are reportedly preparing another attempt to sign Rice in January just goes to show how much they admire the Englishman and want him in their squad.
When January does come around, it’ll be intriguing to see if Chelsea do make a bid for him and how much they would be willing to offer for the midfield man.
Considering how Rice has played every minute of league action for West Ham so far this season, this shows that the club values him as one of their most important players and would presumably be reluctant to let him go.