West Ham face dilemma over £100m-rated Rice
⮞midfielder’s future may rest on team finishing in top four ⮞club unwilling to pay wages to match Grealish’s at City
West Ham United are facing a Catch-22 position over the longterm future of Declan Rice, with the club unable to offer the midfielder a new contract that would reflect their £100million valuation of him.
West Ham are yet to hold fresh talks with Rice over a new deal, despite the investment of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, and know they will face a battle to keep the England international if they do not qualify for the Champions League.
West Ham are fourth in the Premier League, but have taken only one point from their past three games, ahead of today’s visit of leaders Chelsea, when head coach Thomas Tuchel will get his first close-up look at Rice.
Rice turned down two offers of a new deal in the summer as he waits to see whether West Ham can match his ambition of playing in the Champions League and winning trophies.
West Ham’s two offers were, unsurprisingly, nowhere near the deal worth up to £380,000 a week that Manchester City gave Jack Grealish, when he became the first British £100 million footballer, although Rice’s ambition is not money-motivated.
Rice’s contract has 2½ years remaining and West Ham have the option of extending it for a further year. The club are willing to make him the highest-paid player in their history, but are aware that they cannot get close to the figures Grealish earns or that Rice would be guaranteed a similar sum by leaving for anywhere around £100 million.
West Ham have not received an offer for Rice, but Frank Lampard wanted to take him back to Chelsea last summer, when the Stamford Bridge club were viewed as the most likely destination for the England international, who was released by them as a 14-year-old.
There has since been interest from Manchester City, Manchester United and, most recently, from Germany, and the 22-year-old is open to playing overseas one day.
Tuchel admires the qualities of Rice, but the German is yet to see him up close after he missed the visit of Chelsea to the London Stadium last season with a knee injury.
“I am absolutely aware that he is a Chelsea boy and he comes through the academy, and he is very close to our guys,” Tuchel said. “He’s a very strong player and, in general, I am absolutely impressed by [Tomas] Soucek and him.
“They are real helpers on the pitch. They take responsibility for high pressing, for deep defending, for filling the gaps on the wings, for deep build up, for goals from set-pieces. Both are doing everything. Declan is an important member of the England team, so it speaks for itself. Very strong in build-up and very intelligent in passing.”
Given he has been taken off at half-time in each of his two Premier League starts, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which on-loan midfielder
Saul Niguez is signed permanently at the end of the season but a move for Rice is currently not a given, either.
Chelsea have
Conor Gallagher, who coaches believe shares similar qualities to N’golo Kante, on loan at Crystal Palace and Billy Gilmour, who is more akin to Jorginho, on loan at Norwich City. The club believe both players can have futures at Stamford Bridge.
Also central to Chelsea’s plans will be whether Tuchel remains wedded to playing three at the back and which of the club’s central defenders sign new deals or leave. Tuchel introduced three at the back on his arrival to help protect the weaknesses of Jorginho and play to the strengths of Thiago Silva, both of whom have performed superbly under the German. With those two players and Antonio Rudiger, who is a specialist on the left side of a back three, Tuchel decided it was not worth trying to recruit a more dominant, physically imposing midfielder and reverting to a back four this season. Instead, he looked to tweak his tactics within a back-three system. Saul was signed on loan as cover and competition for Kante and Mateo Kovacic.
It remains the case that Tuchel does not have the personnel to confidently move to a back four and that could be a consideration in future.
Rice would not be the only option for Chelsea, however, as the club are interested in Monaco’s Aurelien Tchouameni.
A big performance from Rice today could not only help West Ham’s Champions League push, but also give Tuchel plenty to think about.
Prized asset: West Ham have valued Declan Rice at around £100 million