West Ham manager David Moyes has contradicted the Hammers owners and said Declan Rice is worth “far, far more” than the £100 million price tag they have put on the England international.
David Moyes said: “For me, I have watched the prices of some players who have gone to clubs recently and they could not lace Declan Rice’s boots.”
David Sullivan reportedly told host Jim White any bid has “got to be north of £100m or they won’t entertain it.,” something Moyes vehemently disagrees with.David Moyes said: “I don’t agree with the owners that Declan Rice is a £100m footballer… Far, far more than £100m,” he said. I look at the players who have joined some clubs from overseas and come in and had nowhere near the impact that Declan Rice would have. Also he is English, [we have] just had Brexit, so I wouldn’t agree with the owners if Declan Rice was only £100m. No, I wouldn’t.”
Not that Moyes has any intent on letting his star midfielder leave even if the club were to miss out on Champions League football next season.
David Moyes said: “Do we need the Champions League to keep Declan? No, because Declan is under contract first and foremost, so he can’t go anywhere no matter what and I keep saying and I hope people know that when I say something I mean it. We’ve not had an offer for Declan Rice and I hope we don’t get one.”
Even if a £100m bid arrived for Rice Moyes is adamant he would stress to the owners that his vice-captain is worth far more to the club than that but he would not give a valuation of Rice.
David Moyes added: “I certainly wouldn’t put a price on him. The owners think he’s worth £100 million – well, I completely disagree with that. You can decide which figure you want to put on it but I wouldn’t be sanctioning anything like that, that’s for sure.”
The manager did admit that Rice like every player in football does have a price though.
Dean Smith said: “I think every player will have a price in football, whoever you name, even Messi has a price. At the moment we have had no contact for Declan and I am not in a hurry to lose him as you can imagine.”
Following a relegation battle last season, for Moyes to have led his team to a fight for Europe is a fine achievement for the Scot and one he hopes will help him keep his young team together.
David Moyes added: “I’m looking forward to keeping Declan, I look forward to keeping all the boys and building a young team. If we could finish in Europe, in some sort of European position, I think it would be progress. And that would be progress for Declan Rice as well because he’s been at West Ham they’ve been bobbing around the bottom, so this is new for Declan as well. Declan seems very settled and in fact he is captaining West Ham, plays for England and I want to keep Declan thinking that his ambitions can be achieved here at West Ham and I will have to keep pushing that and keep pushing that with the owners as well.
