West Ham manager David Moyes has vowed Declan Rice will not be sold for less than £150million, and that the price tag is now “north” of that eye-watering figure.
England midfielder Rice, 23, is a reported target for both Chelsea and Manchester United, but the Hammers boss is digging his heels in.
Moyes saw Tottenham reject four bids from Manchester City for England captain Harry Kane last summer, and says West Ham will take a similar stance with their star man.
“The first thing to say is that he is not for sale,” said Moyes.
“But if you are interested, well, it will be north of that, because £100million was cheap last summer, and £150million just now would be minimum – but he is not for sale.
“I look at what Tottenham did with Harry Kane, albeit it in a different way. They said, ‘no, there is a price and if someone wants to pay the price, then we’d probably do it. If they don’t then he’s not going anywhere’. That’s it, they have kept him.
“In many ways, the football clubs are the people in charge, they’ve got the contracts.
“There will be times when players have got the power but at the moment we have got Declan on the best part of a three-and-a-half-year contract, just like Tottenham have got Harry Kane on a contract and they control what happens.”
