As per the Telegraph, interested clubs are ready to pay £100m for Declan Rice but Sky Sports pundit Stephen Warnock has claimed that the midfielder might remain unsold.
Chelsea and Man United have been heavily linked with the England international but West Ham United are not ready to accept anything £150m for their most prized asset.
According to Warnock, the inquisitive clubs might shy away from paying such a steep amount meaning Declan Rice will have to remain with the Hammers for at least one more season.
“Where could he go, realistically?” he said on Sky Sports News.
“Chelsea was the team that we all thought would be in for him. Now the situation is at Chelsea that we don’t know what the new owners are going to put into the club, do we? There’s talk that they’re going to go in heavily but until we know and we see that first move from them.
“You look at every other club and you think, would he go to Manchester United at the moment? Would that be an option for him? He’d benefit them, but would it benefit him at this moment, because again you don’t know what Ten Hag’s going to be like and you don’t know the influence he’s going to have.
“United need to shift a load of players out in order to probably get him in as well, and it’s like where else? Does he go abroad? I don’t see anyone else in the Premier League needing him. I don’t see Manchester City needing him, I don’t see Liverpool needing him.
“Then you look at the other teams and you think he doesn’t have many options because, he’s almost priced himself out of a move, not the club, because he’s that good. That’s sometimes your biggest problem. You end up becoming that good, you become too expensive for someone else to buy.”
The reaction we wanted. pic.twitter.com/A8qm0NsdIw
— Declan Rice (@_DeclanRice) May 8, 2022
Will Chelsea and Man United shy away from signing Declan Rice?
Man United’s new manager Erik ten Hag has already told the management not to go after Declan Rice because of his high price tag and there’s a big chance that Chelsea will also walk on that same path.
United’s new boss has told the club to try and sign someone like Ruben Neves or Kalvin Phillips so Stephen Warnock’s prediction is absolutely right.
There’s no guarantee that Chelsea will go after Rice when the new owners take over and if both these suitors back off then West Ham United will be the biggest gainers. Roman Abramovich was ready to spend money like crazy but we are not sure if the new bosses will also do that.
Will West Ham United benefit from this?
Declan Rice is one of the best midfielders in the world right now and the £150m price tag has been partly put in place so that the curious parties lose their interest. David Moyes will love to hold onto the England international but it’s also true that right now he is at the peak of his form and maybe next season, the club fails to get even £100m for him.
Also, Rice chose to remain with the Hammers this season only because they were playing in the Europa League but next season, West Ham United might be without top-level European football. If that’s the case then he himself will probably hand in a transfer request.
Once Declan Rice hands in an exit request then the club will have no other option but to lower their demands and to make matters worse, clubs like Chelsea and Man United will then forcibly try and lower the price even further because the player would himself want to leave.
