West Ham to use unwanted Pellegrini recruit’s wages to fund pivotal new contract
West Ham will reportedly use the wages saved by offloading Felipe Anderson, to tie Declan Rice to a lucrative new contract.
England star Rice was an ever present for Gareth Southgate at Euro 2020 with Rice arguably saving his best performance for the final.
The midfielder’s lung-bursting charges forward were a feature of the 1-1 draw with Italy. Unfortunately though England and Rice could not get the job done in 120 minutes and were losers on penalties.
Rice’s dependability though will have caught the eye of scouts across Europe. West Ham have always rated the 22-year-old highly and it’s unclear whether they have moved their valuation of him.
Manchester United and Chelsea have been previously linked with the player, although Chelsea’s interest is understood to have faded since the departure of Frank Lampard.
United meanwhile appear to have other more pressing matters and are understood to be in the middle of pursuing Raphael Varane.
Still the Hammers are actively trying to tie Rice down to a new deal, with his existing contract set to expire in 2024, with the Hammers holding a 12-month option.
Rice is believed to have rejected two substantial offers this summer and, per The Guardian, wants to be informed of any bids for him.
The Hammers are determined to keep the Londoner and, according to The Sun, and will use Anderson’s saved wages to get a deal over the line.
Winger Anderson, 28, is heading back to Lazio. He is well known in Rome having spent five successful seasons at Stadio Olimpico.
West Ham signed him for a club-record fee of £36m, rising to £41.5m in July 2018.
His debut season was promising with 10 goals and five assists from 40 games in all competitions. But things went wrong from there on in and David Moyes sent him on loan to Porto last season.
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Anderson close to Lazio deal
That temporary move did not work out and he made only one start in the league for the Portuguese giants.
Now Anderson is on the verge of returning for Lazio for a fee which could rise to £5m.
The Hammers have also secured a 50 per cent sell-on clause, but it’s his £100,000 a week salary they would like to offload.
And they will invest at least some of that offering Rice better terms to keep him at the London Stadium.
7⃣
— S.S.Lazio (@OfficialSSLazio) July 13, 2021
He was also pictured in a full Lazio training kit greeting some of his former team-mates.
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