With the January transfer window speeding towards us, transfer rumours are on the menu again. Let’s start with title contenders Chelsea, who are still very keen on signing England midfielder Declan Rice from West Ham.
Rice joined Chelsea’s youth academy aged seven before moving across to east London, and so the club is close to his heart. More importantly, Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard is said to rate Rice highly, and would like to bring him back to his first English club. Another plus point regarding the potential transfer: Rice is best mates with Mason Mount.
Rice is currently valued at £50m by Transfermarkt but I imagine it would take a bit more than that to convince West Ham to part company with one of their key players.
On Chelsea’s side, they are looking to help fund the transfer by getting rid of record signing Kepa Arrizabalaga and defender Antonio Rudiger. I could see West Ham being interested in a Rudiger + cash deal for Rice. As for poor Kepa, I can’t see who would want to sign such a terrible goalkeeper on big wages (not David Moyes anyway), so – and this is pure speculation – Chelsea might end up paying part of his salary as part of a loan deal to a Spanish club.