Football journalist Dean Jones has been sharing his thoughts on West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice and his future at the east London club.
This comes after Jones made an appearance on a recent episode of Touchline Talk, where he spoke about a number of topics surrounding a range of clubs in the Premier League.
On the subject of Rice, who was linked with a move away from West Ham throughout the recent summer transfer window, Jones had this to say about his current situation and what the future could hold for him.
He said: “I think Declan Rice knows that if he goes to another club, he’s earning more money – mega money.
“From conversations that happened at the start of this summer, from what I understand when his representatives, his family members, sounded out other clubs, they were given pretty good indication that we’re looking at £200k [a week] – upwards of that, even – to sign Declan Rice, as well as signing-on fees that are going to be included in that, and it’s a substantial deal on top of that huge transfer figure that West Ham are looking for.
“But Declan Rice, established England international, will believe that he is now worthy of that kind of money, and he’s going to place himself accordingly – and fair enough, to be honest.
“You can see the kind of company he’s in when he’s on those England trips, and he won’t want to put a limit, I don’t think, on his own earnings and his own ambitions and what he can achieve by staying at West Ham for too much longer.”
TIF Thoughts on Dean Jones’ comments on Rice and his future…
Taking into account what Jones had to say, it seems as though it could take a significant amount of money from another club to sign the Englishman at any point in the future.
Since making his senior debut for the Hammers back in May 2017, the 22-year-old, who is currently valued at £63 million according to Transfermarkt, has made a total of 148 appearances across all competitions in which he has managed to score five goals and provide six assists along the way.
Given how Rice apparently rejected a new contract at West Ham earlier in the summer, it’s easy to see why his future has been brought into question.
Do you think West Ham will sell Declan Rice next summer?
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In our view, while Rice still has another three years until his current contract expires at West Ham (with an option for an extra year), we feel that it should be the east London club’s main objective to get him to sign a new deal to ward off any interest elsewhere and remove any speculation around his future, unless they feel like cashing in on him could be more beneficial for them.
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