Chelsea turn attentions away from West Ham’s Declan Rice
A significant bit of news has broken for West Ham fans, Chelsea has turned their transfer attentions away from the club’s star man.
Declan Rice has been heavily linked with a big move away from West Ham due to his excellent form over the last couple of seasons. Frank Lampard’s Chelsea was supposed favourites to sign the wonder-kid because of his affiliation with the Blue’s youth academy. Rice had been a blue until they released him as a 14-year-old and later picked up by West Ham.
Chelsea has already confirmed the signings of Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner to strengthen their attack. But the Blues are yet to reinforce their defence and Rice was apparently on the top of that list. It is believed that Chelsea has turned the attention towards Athletico Madrid’s José María Giménez after being priced out of a deal for Rice.
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West Ham has reassured fans that Rice remains an essential player for the future and is not for sale. Despite this apparent firm stance over Rice, rumours that there was an acceptable figure of £80 million being floated around. Hammer’s fans might not have been wholly opposed to selling Rice if they were confident in the club’s ability to replace him and strengthen the side. After previous weak signing confidence is low, and keeping Rice is vital to the club’s future success.
Since joining the Hammers, Rice has grown and developed his game and is now the first name on the first eleven’s team-sheet. The 21-year-old and current Hammer of the Year has did not miss a single game last season and was dominant in the midfield. Rice has impressed so much he is now a full England International after Gareth Southgate called him up into the Three Lions set-up.
January signing Tomas Soucek, now a permanent Hammer has also helped improve Rice’s all-round game. Without the worry of being the only defensive midfielder, Rice has shown his attacking ability, which was displayed with a thunderbolt strike against Watford.
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Even if there is very little transfer activity for the Hammers, keeping Rice could make the window seem like a success. Rice’s inclusion to the squad would be vital for David Moyes next season. Of course, there is still time for the drama of the transfer window to spring a surprise.