West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has been on the radar of other clubs for a while, and journalist Dean Jones believes an exit could happen in the summer.
The Hammers have received plenty of interest over their star midfielder, especially from Chelsea and Manchester United, with the former releasing Rice from their academy when he was just 14.
Jones recently told GiveMeSport that there are a ‘couple of influential figures’ at Old Trafford who are ‘convinced’ that Rice should be made a Manchester United player in the near future.
Jones claimed: “I’ve looked into the Declan Rice situation a bit further and Man United are tempted to use Paul Pogba’s wages into a deal for him. We’re still some way from the transfer pursuit being pushed into action but there are a couple of influential figures at the club, I’m told, have never been more convinced they should be signing him.”
TIF Thoughts on rumours linking Declan Rice with a move to Manchester United…
If West Ham fail to achieve Champions League status for next season, it would look even more likely that Rice would leave the Hammers.
It’s clear to see just how big of a miss the midfielder would be when you look at his stats. As per WhoScored, he ranks second only to Jarrod Bowen for average rating so far this season, second in defensive rating and third in passing rating. His ability to link things in the middle of the park is backed up by the fact he averages the most amount of passes per game and has the third-highest passing percentage.
Of course, it’s not every day a player gets valued at £100m and above by his manager, which is exactly what David Moyes has come out and said, so you can see just how much he means to the boss and the club, so whether Jones’ claim comes to fruition remains to be seen.