West Ham United are reportedly playing hardball in contract negotiations with young star Declan Rice.
What a difference a couple of weeks has made for Manuel Pellegrini and West Ham.
Four defeats from their opening four Premier League games under the Chilean put the Hammers under intense pressure.
But a 3-1 win at Everton, followed by a superb 0-0 draw with Chelsea and the massive 8-0 hammering of Macclesfield in the Carabao Cup has turned the season around.
One of the stars of that turnaround has been youngster Declan Rice.
The 19-year-old has been at the heart of West Ham’s change in fortunes.
And he has also been at the heart of an international tug of war between England and Ireland as well as contract wranglings at his club.
The world and its wife has had their say on Rice’s contract situation.
According to the Evening Standard Rice has turned down a deal at West Ham that would have seen him collect £20,000 every time he started a Premier League game.
The Standard claims Rice is currently on £3,000 a week in a deal that expires at the end of next season.
Standard Sport understands West Ham’s most recent offer would have earned Rice about £15,000 per week, with an increase after every 15 Premier League games.
The Mirror claims West Ham are keen that Rice’s deal is an incentivised one, having seeing the progress of another academy product, Reece Oxford, stall after giving him a £20,000-per-week contract following his 2015 breakthrough.
But if true the Oxford excuse is a lame duck from the West Ham hierarchy.
Given West Ham are ranked the 17th richest club in world football and pay huge wages to some very average players, their reluctance to reward Rice with a realistic deal has fans bewildered.
Rice has demonstrated a completely different attitude to Oxford since breaking into the first team.
He has also shown great consistency for one so young as well as immense talent both in midfield and at centre back.
For all Oxford’s promise, he has failed to establish himself in the first team like Rice.
To use Oxford as the barometer by which all future academy graduates are measured is nothing short of laughable when the likes of Javier Hernandez are earning around £140,000 per week.
If West Ham lose Rice it will be a monumental mistake and a terrible legacy for owners David Sullivan and David Gold to leave.
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