OPINION
The board of West Ham have to sort Declan Rice’s contract situation out as soon as possible and his display against Manchester City on Saturday showed why.
The Hammers may have slumped to a 4-0 defeat courtesy of Man City but Rice was one of the few, if perhaps only, players who could have held their head up high following the match.
The 19-year-old made several important tackles to stop the loss to Man City being heavier and showed everyone that he could handle playing against the Premier League’s elite sides once again.
In fact it’s easy to picture Rice, who regularly plays a defensive midfielder in Manuel Pellegrini’s side, performing for a side competing at the top end of the division with ease.
The teenager’s talents didn’t go unnoticed by Man City boss Pep Guardiola on Saturday either as following the clash he praised Rice’s ability.
“Declan Rice is an excellent young player and he will be a top player in English football for many years,” said the serial winning manager, as quoted by Football.London journalist Sam Inkersole on his Twitter account.
Pep: "Declan Rice is an excellent young player and he will be a top player in English football for many years." #WHUFC
— Sam Inkersole (@Sam_InkersoleTM) November 24, 2018
Guardiola’s praise of the Hammers player shows the amount of interest in him there will be from high profile clubs if the London side don’t get him to pen a new deal shortly.
Rice’s current contract is set to expire in 2020 and the Metro previously reported that the club may be forced to sell their talented player if he doesn’t sign a new deal shortly as they’d rather get a transfer fee then see him leave for free.
Club insider ExWHUemployee tweeted on November 19th that Rice had had no communication about a new contract in the last month despite making it clear he wanted to stay.
There is no truth in @_DeclanRice contract being close to be sorted. There has been no communication regarding the deal for over a month now despite Declan making it clear he wishes to stay amongst interest from many other clubs ⚒
— ExWHUEmployee (@ExWHUEmployee) November 19, 2018
It would be a shocking turn of events if the Hammers bid farewell to Rice anytime soon and the board must act ASAP to give the player what he wants in order to secure his long-term future, especially after Guardiola’s endorsement.
