David Moyes says that Declan Rice’s price tag has risen to north of £150million and believes that West Ham United will handle any inquiries similar to how Tottenham Hotspur dealt with the interest in Harry Kane last summer.
David Moyes said: “The first thing to say is that he is not for sale. 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.”
Moyes was then asked if West Ham will take a similar stance to Crystal Palace’s on Wilfred Zaha, who has remained at Selhurst Park because of what interested clubs have considered a prohibitive priced placed on the Ivory Coast star, or Spurs with Kane. In an era when there is a consensus of players gaining more power when it comes to the dynamics of moving clubs, the Scot pointed out that there are still cases where the clubs remain in control.
David Moyes said: “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.”
