Could Declan Rice end up performing a huge U-turn by staying at West Ham as list of admirers dwindles by the day?
West Ham captain Rice has been linked with a list of the biggest and best clubs across Europe for the last two or three years now.
But West Ham have insisted they have never once received a bid for the midfielder.
Hammers fans have come to accept that Rice will be sold this summer.
Especially after he announced his desire to play regular Champions League football and compete for the top trophies in the game during that England press conference at the World Cup.
The line of questioning during that particular press conference was a perfect example of the kind of agenda set by the football media in this country.
They cannot wait to push players like Rice out of unfashionable clubs like West Ham.
But the narrative around Rice has changed dramatically of late. He has been seriously questioned by some of the top pundits around and journalists in the know claim “the industry” value Rice at between £60-70m rather than the £100m plus West Ham would want to sell him.
For West Ham supporters who have watched the likes of Anthony Gordon and Kalvin Phillips being sold for £45m and £55m each, that notion is laughable.
But you’re only worth what someone is willing to pay.
So could Rice end up performing a huge U-turn by staying at West Ham as his list of admirers dwindles by the day?
That seemed a highly unlikely scenario. But West Ham need only look at the way things unfolded with Harry Kane at Spurs to see it is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.
Kane wanted to leave in pursuit of trophies, nobody was willing to pay what Tottenham wanted and he remains at the club.
Gary Neville, Dwight Yorke, Simon Jordan, Jamie O’Hara and a host of other pundits have been claiming Rice is overrated and overpriced of late. But we don’t give much credence to what comes out of most of their mouths, certainly not at West Ham.
But it is the criticism from Roy Keane and Graeme Souness that hits hardest. These are two of the game’s pre-eminent central midfield players and their opinion, whether we like it or not, carries weight.
If West Ham have – as they claim – never received a bid for Rice and question marks are being raised over the Hammers skipper’s value, then it is not unreasonable to think he might listen to Harry Redknapp’s advice this week.
Speaking in The Evening Standard former Hammers player and manager Redknapp said he believes West Ham are plenty big enough for Rice and has warned the midfielder that the grass is not always greener elsewhere.
West Ham offered Rice a huge £200k per week long term contract worth over £80m in their last attempt to keep him.
Maybe, just maybe, the change of narrative around the midfielder and his list of admirers dwindling will make him realise West Ham is the only place he will be loved and cherished like he is.
Stranger things have happened.
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