West Ham midfielder Declan Rice has been told that a Liverpool transfer fits the right 'profile' of what Jurgen Klopp would be looking for in comparison to a Chelsea move amid David Moyes' latest warning to interested parties.
Rice has ascended to another level of play this season as shown once again by his commanding performance in the most recent Everton win, with numerous pundits describing him as one of the world's best central midfield players. He has three years remaining on his contract and former club Chelsea and Manchester United are among those monitoring the situation ahead of a possible summer move. football.london understands that Chelsea's position is complicated by their ownership situation and, with West Ham holding such a firm valuation, the majority of clubs will not possess sufficient finances to make a reasonable bid.
Regardless of this, Premier League icon John Barnes has recommended Liverpool as the right fit for West Ham's number 41 if he was to move within the league come the end of 2021/22 despite strong competition from many clubs across Europe. "Rice would fit the profile of what Liverpool want," the former striker told BonusCodeBets.co.uk. "He’s a hard-working, strong midfield player who can win tackles, break things up, defend well, and that’s the profile they look for. He probably wouldn’t suit a team like Man City, but he can break the game up, cover the full backs if they go up and down, so he would suit Liverpool. But he’s at West Ham and Liverpool haven’t made a bid for him, so it’s speculation. If it happens it’s a great acquisition."
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If the Reds or anyone else was to make this prospect a reality, Hammers boss Moyes has reiterated exactly what any club would need to do to prise the Three Lions international away from East London in the forthcoming months. “The first thing to say is that he is not for sale," Moyes said in his pre-Everton press conference. "If you are interested, well, it will be north of that because £100million was cheap last summer. £150million just now would be minimum but he is not for sale. What I do know is that it means there are only certain clubs that could even consider it."
He then added on the extortionate price-tag that saw Wilfred Zaha and Harry Kane denied dream moves in previous transfer windows: “I look at it a bit differently. I look at what Tottenham did with Harry Kane albeit in a different way. They said: 'No, there is a price and if someone wants to pay the price, then we would probably do it. If they don’t then he's not going anywhere.' That’s it, they have kept him.
"You have just mentioned two of England’s best players. Harry Kane, he got off to a bit of a slow start like a few England players after the Euros. But he is a top player. He proved that against us a couple of weeks ago. So I think in many ways, the football clubs are the people in charge of them, they have got the contracts. There will be times when players have got the power but at the moment we have got Declan on the best part of a 3.5 year contract. Just like Tottenham have got Harry Kane on a contract and they control what happens."
