West Ham are currently reluctant to offer Declan Rice a new contract worth in the region £36,000-a-week as they’re waiting to see where he fits in Manuel Pellegrini’s plans, according to Claret & Hugh.
The reliable Hammers news site claim that the club have offered the defender a deal that would see him earn a basic wage £18,000-a-week and then get an additional £10,000 for every first team appearances he makes.
Claret & Hugh report that Rice’s advisers are battling to get him a better offer and are seeking a contract that will see him get a basic salary of around £36,000-a-week.
It is believed that the Hammers are unready to pay Rice that sort of money as they believe that if Manuel Pellegrini plays his preferred 4-2-2-2 formation then Rice is unlikely to start for the club.
OPINION
It seems that the Hammers and Rice’s representatives are quite a distance apart in the deal they think the player deserves. The only positive about this report is that talks are set to continue which shows that both parties are still striving for a positive outcome. Rice has established himself as fan favourite at the London Stadium as not only is he a homegrown-talent, the player put in several impressive performances last season. The Hammers endured a disappointing 2017/18 campaign but the improvement of the teenage defender was one of the positive to take from the recent season. Rice featured 34 times for the Hammers and aside from a couple of blunders, which would have seen him learn vital lessons, he was generally a rock at the back. It’s understandable that the Hammers are reluctant to drastically improve his current £3,000-a-week wage at this stage as it isn’t guaranteed that Rice will feature as often due to all the new defensive signings that Pellegrini has made.
