West Ham United have reportedly finally admitted defeat with key midfielder Declan Rice, ahead of the summer transfer window.
The Evening Standard claim that the Hammers have accepted that the 24-year-old will leave the London Stadium, after he rejected our latest contract offer.
Rice is under contract with West Ham until the summer of 2024, but we have the option to extend that deal until 2025.
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Losing the England international will obviously be a bitter pill to swallow for the West Ham fans, but I kind of feel like we have all accepted that it will happen at some point now.
And it seems as though the powers that be at the London Stadium have now arrived at the same realisation…
West Ham have accepted that Declan Rice will leave
The Evening Standard reckon that the Hammers owners have now accepted that they will have to sell the 24-year-old midfielder in the summer transfer window.
However, they still plan to demand at least £100 million for Rice.
In my opinion, we will struggle to get that much for Dec. Perhaps £80 million will be a more realistic aim.
The thing is, we have to be careful here. In the summer, Rice will have just two years left on his deal. So if we are too greedy, we will end up keeping him for at least another year, and that’s when his value will begin to tumble. The worse case scenario is that we end up losing him on a free transfer in the summer of 2025.
Losing Declan Rice will obviously not be ideal for West Ham.
However, getting £80 million or so for him will soften the blow massively.
So maybe the Hammers need to think long and hard about how much they are demanding for the 24-year-old ace’s signature.
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