OPINION
Ask most West Ham fans if they’d rather sell Declan Rice or their own grandmother and a fair few of them would need a minute to think about it.
The 20-year-old has made a seismic impact at the London Stadium this season, and has completed an astonishing rise from academy prospect to England international in barely any time whatsoever.
Understandably, that kind of ascension garners attention, and it is no real surprise that Rice has been linked with a number of top clubs.
The latest, and perhaps most persistent rumour, as reported by the Times, is that the midfielder is on Manchester United’s shopping list this summer.
It is understood that new permanent manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is keen to bring in a young English core to his squad, and Rice has been earmarked as a potential midfield lynchpin for the Reds Devils.
This will horrify West Ham fans. Having Rice linked with anybody is bad enough, but having him linked with a club who are not averse to paying over the odds to get their man is a real worry.
You get the impression that United will essentially give Solskjaer carte blanche this summer as they push for a return to the halcyon days of the Sir Alex Ferguson era, and if that means trampling over any and every club that stand in their way then so be it.
Whether Rice would go is a different matter of course, but make no mistake, if United are indeed interested, the Hammers face a proper fight to keep him.
