Declan Rice REJECTS two West Ham contract offers as he holds out on Man Utd or Chelsea transfer

WEST HAM will need to improve their offer to Declan Rice after the England star rejected two new contracts with the club.

The Hammers are desperate to tie the 22-year-old midfielder down to a new long-term contract amid interest serious from Manchester United and Chelsea.

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But the package on the table is not what Rice wants, and he has turned down the offers so far.

Rice has proved he belongs at the highest level with his displays during the Euros.

Rice has three years left to run on his current deal, with the option of a fourth, and is not agitating for a move away from East London after leading them to Europa League qualification last season.

But though his standing in the Premier League and now with England has grown, the youth-team product is on a deal which is meagre compared to the going rate elsewhere.

It is understood talks are ongoing and there is hope a deal can be struck in the near future.

West Ham’s position has not been helped by team-mates within the England squad, particularly from United, selling life away from the Hammers to him.

Money is not the only factor though, it is understood that he wants the best chance to compete at club level and has no desire to be at a club scraping around the bottom half of the table any more.

While the Hammers under David Moyes were superb last season, they got lucky by avoiding many injuries and with Jesse Lingard now back at Manchester United there is little depth in the squad.

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The club has long talked about trying to build a team around Rice, without really delivering and this is being viewed as a key summer at the London Stadium to see if the owners build on last season or are happy with the status quo.

If the latter happens, and key players get injured, then there is a real possibility fighting in the top half would be a one-off, and having proved he can perform at the highest level, the prospect of kicking around a relegation battle is hardly appealing.

West Ham have maintained they have no intention of selling this summer, and if they did it would need a bid of around £100million to tempt them.

But if they cannot get the player to commit to a new deal, then Rice himself would be in a powerful position in 12 months with only two years left on his contract - leaving the Hammers vulnerable to bids.

Within an article we published online on 1 July and an article in our newspaper on 2 July, we carried inaccurate information about the offers of a new contract made to Declan Rice and the comparison to Andriy Yarmolenko. We have updated our online article and apologise for this.

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