Arsenal and Chelsea have been told they will have to break the British transfer record if they are to sign Declan Rice in the summer. The current most expensive player is Enzo Fernandez after his dramatic deadline day move to Stamford Bridge for £106.8million and that could be the benchmark for future deals.
Both London clubs are interested in the West Ham midfielder and have been given a major boost moving forward with less than 18 months remaining on his contract. football.london understands that the Hammers are resigned to him leaving at the end of the season but the battle for his signature continues.
Having previously been quoted a staggering fee of above £150million by David Moyes there is hope that his price will lower with West Ham's weakened bargaining position over time. Once more though, if World Cup winner Fernandez is the most expensive player it could make things harder for Graham Potter and Mikel Arteta.
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Rice is captain of his club and has 39 international caps. He is closing in on 200 league games and 250 across all competitions for his current side. Fernandez, in contrast, has played just over 70 senior matches at club level. Should West Ham demand a new record fee for him Gianfranco Zola can see the value.
"I like him very much," the former Blues midfielder told BT Sport before Chelsea played at the London Stadium. "I am a big admirer because he can do both phases of the midfield - he can defend and get balls back, using his physicality to do that, but also when he has the ball he is always looking [forward] and he doesn’t lose the ball easily - I like him very much."
As for Rio Ferdinand, he was also full of praise for the Three Lions staple. "I think with Rice, he’s still got levels to go in his game. He’s still a young player and I think he does a job very, very well here at West Ham, but I think whether it’s here or elsewhere, there are other parts to his game where he’s still looking to develop himself, but will be extracted by a good coach as well.
"I don’t think he needs to improve, he just needs to add to it. We saw in the Europa League last season his ability to drive and change the dynamic of a game, and can do that with passing as well. The more he improves that ability to get forwards and I think he adds goals to his game as well, and if he can do that you don’t know what he can be."
When it comes to the next stage of his career though, Ferdinand was in little doubt that his future lies elsewhere. "You could say West Ham, stay here and have a career like Mark Noble, but the fans will hate me for saying it - I was a player in his shoes once here at West Ham, quite identical in many ways, and I wanted to win things," he added.
"I wanted to do that at West Ham and it wasn’t possible, I wanted to win things and the fans respected that. He’s got enough in the tank here, done enough in his time here, for the fans to respect any decision that he does make."
Whatever is next for Rice, he will have plenty of options even if the price tag isn't as straight forward as it may seem.
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