West Ham star Declan Rice wants to join Chelsea after the Blues held talks with his agent about a potential move to Stamford Bridge this summer, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Frank Lampard has already been extremely busy in the transfer market so far this summer as he’s splashed out huge money on Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, Edouard Mendy, Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr.
However, the Blues boss doesn’t appear to be finished just yet as Lampard has also been strongly linked with a swoop for Rice this summer and it looks like Chelsea are going to make a late push for his signature during the closing stages of the window.
Fabrizio Romano claims that while no official offer has been put on the table yet, Chelsea have held talks with Rice’s agent and the player is pushing to secure a move to Stamford Bridge this summer.
The Italian journalist – who writes for the Guardian – says Chelsea are going to focus on offloading fringe players to help balance books before opening formal transfer talks with West Ham over a deal for the 21-year-old.
Romano said on Twitter:
Chelsea have not made any official bid yet for Declan Rice. Talks on with his agent – but now it’s time to sell/loan out players, then #CFC will open talks on next days with West Ham. #WHUFC insist they won’t sell Rice but the player is pushing to join Chelsea.
West Ham are reluctant to lose Rice as he’s become an integral part of their first team since progressing through the youth ranks and is now considered to be one of the best young players in British football.
However, every player has a price and the Mirror suggest that an £80m offer from Chelsea could be enough to tempt West Ham into doing business with their London rivals this summer.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the Blues will be prepared to go that high for Rice as they’ve already spent over £250m this summer but the England international would be another excellent addition to Lampard’s squad.
The youngster started out his career in the Chelsea youth ranks before moving to West Ham six years ago but it appears Rice is keen on moving back to his old club as he looks to join a club capable of competing for major honours.
