Any suitors keen on West Ham’s 21-year-old midfield anchor Declan Rice will need to stump up £100m, according to pundit and presenter Jim White on talkSPORT.
Speaking with former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan, the pair agreed that the ball is very much in the Hammers’ court over how much they could quote interested parties for Rice.
With David Moyes’ side occupying a Champions League place, the 21-year-old has played no small part in helping them to get there. Hailed as an ‘outstanding’ leader by his manager, the youngster has played every Premier League minute for the Irons this season and is an integral defensive mainstay of Moyes’ tactical approach.
Jordan is adamant that traditional top six clubs – chiefly Chelsea and Manchester United – will be interested in the England international, but knows that West Ham have total control over the asset value of their star midfielder. He told talkSPORT:
It would be interesting to see what happens with Declan Rice at the end of the season. His performances have been so good that there will be suitors. There will be suitors with money.
Then you’ll see how much David Gold and David Sullivan come under pressure if someone is prepared to write a cheque out for £80million, £90m for this player.
White then moved to claim that West Ham’s owners value Declan Rice in excess of £100m – which would surpass their club-record £26.37m sale of Dimitri Payet by some distance. The talkSPORT presenter added:
[West Ham part-owner David] Sullivan has already told me it’s got to be north of £100m or they won’t entertain it. We’ll wait and see what happens with that.
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With Rice having a base Transfermarkt value of £49.5m and three years left on his contract, West Ham are under no pressure to sell an asset who could even help the Irons to secure European football next season.
The £100m figure is almost certainly a red herring, but one shrewdly designed to ward off future interest in his services.
