Chelsea step up Declan Rice interest once again
What we know on Chelsea's long-time pursuit of the West Ham midfielder
Declan Rice was in the same crop of successful Chelsea players that Mason Mount was in about ten years ago, but the two have completely different success stories.
Mount, as we know, has gone on to become a key and indispensable player for Chelsea even being made captain this season on a couple of occasions, whilst Rice was released by Chelsea at a young age and has gone on to become indispensable for West Ham, whilst also regularly captaining the side.
They are both regulars for England.
So maybe their stories are not so different after all? And maybe their stories are about to go around in a full circle and realign once again?
As we told you back in March, Chelsea have never lost their interest in signing Declan Rice, despite the change of managers.
And over the weekend, the hugely reliable Matt Law of the The Telegraph reported the same, and the Rice to Chelsea hysteria started once again.
There are many in Chelsea’s hierarchy that rate Rice highly and want to bring him back, and according to Law’s report, Thomas Tuchel is absolutely on board with the pursuit as well.
Rice would love to one day go back to Chelsea and represent his boyhood club. But he loves and respects West Ham and their fans a lot, enough to not ever request a transfer, which would make this pursuit a lot easier. They’ve also just qualified for the Europa League, which Rice is very proud of and wouldn’t be adverse to staying in and leading his club in.
The other stumbling block? West Ham’s apparent £90 million valuation. Chelsea wont pay that, and West Ham are not entertaining selling Rice as it stands.
However, as we also reported first back in our report from March, West Ham are very interested in signing Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley from Chelsea, and the club are considering offering either one, or both of these players as part of the deal.
Swap deals are difficult though, and need all players in the deal to be willing for the moves as well. So whether or not Abraham and Barkley would be keen on that move, remains to be seen.
Long way to go, but get set for another battle for Rice this summer, just like last summer!
Simon Phillips