Chelsea Hold Fresh Talks With Declan Rice As Club Reaffirms Its Interest For The Player: The club is edging closer to a transfer with Lampard extremely eager to get his hands on the midfielder
Despite going on a transfer spree earlier in September as they looked to compensate for a year without any fresh names gracing the club, Chelsea are clearly not done. Having shelved out 220 million pounds in the summer to bolster their ranks, the club is set to further open its purse come January.
One player who managed to escape from Frank Lampard’s grasps back in September was West Ham’s Declan Rice. Despite known to be smitten by the West Ham midfielder, West Ham’s gargantuan asking price was too much for Chelsea to meet at the time.
And while West Ham are refusing to budge from their 80 million pound valuation, Chelsea are refusing to cool down their interest. The club has been in constant contact with Rice across the last couple of months with Rice and Lampard see catching up ensuing Chelsea’s 3-0 win over West Ham at the weekend.
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Chelsea Hold Fresh Talks With Declan Rice As Club Reaffirms Its Interest For The Player
And fresh reports have provided further insights into just how committed Chelsea are to their cause. Chelsea have once again touched base with Declan Rice with the club going as far as to tell Rice that he is their priority target and the club would be moving in for him in the time to come.
“Chelsea are talking to Declan Rice and his entourage to tell them he is their priority, whether it be in January or the summer – they are in contact with the player,” Fabrizio Romano recently said.
He also went onto add that Rice who was previously a part of Chelsea’s academy system is also keen on a move. While a January transfer continues to look unlikely given the gargantuan price on his head, it’s looking increasingly likely that Chelsea will end up with the player in their books.
Where Chelsea use Rice continues to be seen. While the club was eager to rope him in at the CB, Rice has spoken about how he prefers being deployed in the midfield slot.
“I’ve played midfield now for the last three seasons. I think people get carried away with kind of what they want me to do,” Rice had said in November.
“I think the more I start to drive forward with the ball like I’ve been doing in recent games.
“I’ve watched the top players like Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure, every time they see a bit of space they drive into it they look powerful, they look strong and I think as a holding midfielder that’s rare these days.
“If I can keep adding that into my game I can keep catching the eye.”
