West Ham are adamant Declan Rice will not be sold this summer.
Long-time admirers Chelsea are believed to have stepped up their bid to land the England midfielder in the past few days while Manchester United have been regularly linked with a move for the Hammers star.
But a senior source at the London Stadium has unequivocally told Mirror Sport that Rice would not be leaving during this transfer window. Chelsea’s new owners are keen to make at least one marquee signing at Stamford Bridge after buying the club from Roman Abramovich but are set to be frustrated in their pursuit of Rice for now at least.
Todd Boehly, the Blues new chairman and interim sporting director, is leading Chelsea’s transfer dealings this summer, with super-agent Pini Zahavi understood to be working closely with him. Manchester City and England star Raheem Sterling and Everton's Richarlison are other top targets. Winger Hakim Ziyech is set to follow Romelu Lukaku, who has returned to Inter Milan on loan, to Italy, with AC Milan keen to take him.
United have made Rice one of their targets as Erik ten Hag looks to start his overhaul of the playing squad at Old Trafford - but Frenkie de Jong is understood to still be their No.1 pick. Hammers boss David Moyes and co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold have been adamant that Rice would not be for sale this summer.
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Rice himself said recently he was ready to rebuff approaches from elsewhere, with his full focus remaining on ‘going again’ after suffering Europa League heartache with the Hammers.
"We've proved that we can play in big European games and our fans and our stadium have shown we can handle those big European nights, and that's what we want more of,” he said last month. "I'm proud of the lads because we're not the biggest of squads, so to go week in, week out again and again and again, training and playing Thursdays and Sundays, away from home and away from families has been tough, but in the end we've had a great year and we're ready to go again.”
Moyes has already made it clear that he values Rice well in excess of £100million and if he has a good World Cup for England his value will rocket even further. Rice started out at Chelsea before being released and picked up by West Ham, and the Blues would love to take him back sooner rather than later.
