Why West Ham can ask Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City for huge Rice fee
Robin Bairner
- 7 Feb 2022 18:47 GMT
- 3 min read
West Ham are already doing their best to put off Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City from making a transfer move for Declan Rice in the summer.
Rice has been a pivotal figure in the Hammers’ midfield this season as they have launched an unlikely challenge for a top-four spot. With a modest return of a single goal and four assists in 22 Premier League outings and no title-winning experience, Rice is an unlikely candidate to become one of the game’s most expensive ever players, yet those are the terms that West Ham think of him in.
Reports suggested that it would have taken a world-record sum to prise Rice away from the club in January, while David Moyes has gone to far as to suggest that a price tag of £100 million would be “cheap” for the 23-year-old England international now.
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FootballTransfers, which calculates the value of players based on hundreds of in-game data points plus external factors such as Champions League appearances, international status and contract length, only places Rice’s worth around the €49m mark.
Why does Rice have a huge asking price?
There are several reasons that Rice is set to go for a blockbuster price.
Of course, there is an inflated fee for English players moving between Premier League clubs, which partly explains his massive asking price, but there are more influential reasons, too.
The length of his contract is one key factor. Rice signed a six-year deal with the club back in 2018 which does not expire until the end of June 2024 – and West Ham even have the option to extend that by a further year. In effect, the club have three more years before Rice could become a free agent. They are under no contract pressure to sell.
Perhaps the most important reason, though, is that there are so many rich clubs willing to pay for him.
Chelsea and Manchester City are known as being big-spending clubs backed by massive wealth, while Manchester United have the biggest net spend on transfers in world football in the last 10 years.
West Ham know that they can happily trigger a bidding war on Rice, with Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd all capable of taking the bait as they search for a long-term solution to their central midfield issues.
