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West Ham must resist pull of money for Rice, now and in the future

By Scott Johnson

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 05: Lukas Jutkiewicz of Birmingham City is challenged by Declan Rice of West Ham United during the FA Cup Third Round match between West Ham United and Birmingham City at The London Stadium on January 5, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 05: Lukas Jutkiewicz of Birmingham City is challenged by Declan Rice of West Ham United during the FA Cup Third Round match between West Ham United and Birmingham City at The London Stadium on January 5, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /
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Declan Rice has consistently been one of West Ham’s best performers this season, and is only getting better. The Hammers must stay strong and avoid becoming a glorified feeder club.

According to some news outlets, Manchester City are reportedly interested in signing Declan Rice. If not now, then in the summer. The reports also cover the fact that West Ham will be demanding in excess of 50m. However the Hammers must be strong, and refuse to sell this year.

We’ve seen what happens to clubs that sell their best talent, whether that be the era in which we saw talents like Ferdinand, Cole, Lampard and Carrick leave the club or, in more recent years, the way Liverpool has constantly ravaged the talents at Southampton. If we sell Rice this year, we’re effectively saying we’re a selling club.

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When Rice signed a new contract at the club it was a sign things were improving. He’s a top talent and has many years at the top ahead of him. Ignoring the Arnautovic agent troubles the squad is settled and improving, and we’re keeping our best players. But Rumours of Rice’s movement must be quashed for the rest of the year, not just in January.

If we sell Rice for anything in the Summer, unless we’re talking almost record breaking sums of money, then we open ourselves up to speculative bids from other clubs. We’re saying our contracts are not important and that we will sell and not build for our own success.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that Rice is good enough that, unless West Ham are challenging for silverware in 4 or 5 years, he will be moving on to a top team. He could play Champions League football now, but I hope that he stays for that sort of time in order to develop here. To allow us the chance to improve our standing in English football.

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As it is, selling Rice in the summer starts the belief that this club is a stepping stone, not the end destination. We need players coming here believing we can make a success of the club. If one of our won homegrown talents won’t do that, why should they?

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