Former Arsenal winger Perry Groves has recently discussed the future of West Ham United starlet Declan Rice amidst his links with Chelsea.
In recent months, the Hammers’ English defensive midfielder has been heavily linked with a return to the Blues after having been released by them as a youngster (per Daily Mail).
It has even been touted that Frank Lampard’s outfit could pay as much as £70m to seal Rice’s arrival from the London Stadium.
With his existing deal currently lasting until the summer of 2024, with the club holding the option for a further year, and a market value of £49.5m according to Transfermarkt, the estimated £70m does not seem far over the odds.
Speaking on the latest episode of the TalkSPORT Daily podcast, Groves discussed Rice’s future and made a claim over what he believes the player will be thinking.
He said: “Well, I think he probably wants to go in the right way, which is fair enough, because there’s too many who don’t have that class.
“I would still be going in January and saying, ‘I would like to leave’, right? Then, it goes behind the scenes, agents talk to agents and whatever.
“Depending on how much money it would have to take to get him away in January, what? £70/75m?
“If you [were] Frank Lampard, you’d be going to his owners and saying, ‘If I get him, we’ve got 30/40% chance more of winning the title.'”
TIF Thoughts on what Perry Groves said about Declan Rice…
As can be seen in what the former Arsenal winger had to say, he believes that the English defensive midfielder is acting with “class” because he “probably wants to go in the right way”.
Do you think £70m would be a fair price for Declan Rice?
No, he's worth more
Yes, would be a good fee
If David Moyes was to lose Rice during the January transfer window, it seems that the Irons would be shipping out a key performer from their first-team squad.
Having earned a 6.91/10 average rating over 14 appearances in the Premier League so far this term, the 21-year-old has been West Ham’s joint-fourth-best player (per WhoScored).
He has made the joint-third-most tackles (1.7) and the most interceptions (2.1) per league game for the Hammers so far this term.
So, it would be fair to say that the London Stadium outfit would be defensively weaker should Rice depart during the January transfer window.