‘They feel protected’: Club think they can keep hold of £130m player Chelsea reportedly want to sign
Fabrizio Romano has claimed to CaughtOffside that West Ham are confident that they can keep hold of Declan Rice next year.
Reports have claimed for a while that Chelsea are keen to bring in the England international, after letting him leave as an academy prospect.
The Blues are likely to be investing heavily in the midfield area. There is a potential for the club to suffer an exodus in that position.
N’golo Kante and Jorginho both have contracts that expire at the end of the season, and so far there has been no indication that they will sign a new deal to stay.
There has also been talk of potentially losing Mateo Kovacic, although that can almost certainly be filed as off the mark for now.
West Ham confident of keeping Rice
Romano has claimed however that if the Blues want Rice as their marquee replacement, they should not expect it to be easy based on his current contract situation in East London.
He said: “I get asked a lot about Jude Bellingham at the moment, but another big-name midfielder fans seem to want to know about is Declan Rice. After all, if Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Real Madrid are all chasing Bellingham, only one of them can get him and the rest will need an alternative.
“Still, for Declan Rice we have to consider and respect West Ham; they always wanted almost €150m for the midfielder and they feel protected by his current contract situation.”
Todd Boehly has shown so far in his time at Stamford Bridge that he isn’t afraid to invest, and the club’s reported targets for the future point to that continuing.
The World Cup could be an excellent showcase of the standard of player for Chelsea to buy, with many Blues fans hoping Rice performs well for England later this month.
