Simon Jordan has taken a swipe at Declan Rice after insisting that the coveted England star is not worth his reported £100million price tag.
Rice has established as a key player for both club and country over the past couple of years but has just 18 months remaining on his current West Ham deal. Although the Hammers do hold an option to extend that by a further year, it is expected that Rice will be sold in the summer for a sizeable sum.
The West Ham star appeared to open the door on a move to a top club in the summer ahead of England's World Cup Round of 16 clash with Senegal. While speaking at a press conference building up to the game on Thursday, Rice was asked about his desire to play in the Champions League and admitted: "Yeah - one hundred per cent I want to play in the Champions League. For the last two or three years I've been saying that.
"I've been playing consistently well for my club and I feel like I really want to keep pushing. I see my friends here [with England at the World Cup in Qatar], who are playing Champions League and competing for big trophies.
"You only get one career and at the end of it you want to look back at what you've won and the biggest games you've played in. I really want to do that."
Although Rice has an extensive list of suitors, including the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, Jordan has hit out at the sky-high valuations that have been slapped on the 23-year-old - who he claims is 'underwhelming'. Hammers boss David Moyes has previously insisted that Rice would not be sold for less than £150m.
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Speaking on talkSPORT, Jordan insisted: "I'm underwhelmed, and there's probably going to be a collective inhalation of breath, I'm underwhelmed by Declan Rice. I think he's a very good player but I'm trying to work out what a £100m footballer should look like.
"And I think it should look like something a little bit more compelling than the showing we've currently got. But that may be just because he's being asked to play a certain [way]."
Jordan then continued with his rant and quipped: "There's a rumour going around here that eventually Declan Rice is going to pass the ball forward in this tournament. He's a player that is coming with a great reputation. I'm not entirely sure he's having the greatest World Cup but I would expect at the end of this season you're going to find Declan Rice with a decision."
