Chelsea are planning to return with a bid for West Ham midfielder Declan Rice in the January transfer window, MySportDab reports.
Rice has impressed for West Ham in their midfield, and he has attracted interest from rivals Chelsea in recent months.
The Blues tried to sign Rice in the summer transfer window but a £60m transfer failed after they failed to sell some players.
According to The Athletic, Chelsea are confident that Rice won’t discuss terms of a new contract with West Ham.
Chelsea were ruthless in the during summer transfer window, spent £253m players like Edouard Mendy, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell, Timo Werner, and Hakim Ziyech.
Chelsea also signed Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr on free transfers during the last transfer window.
But after spending a lot last summer, Chelsea did not have the money to pay for Declan Rice and were struggling to reduce their squad size.
MySportDab understands that Chelsea were planning to sell two players to raise money for Declan Rice but both transfers failed on deadline day.
Coach Frank Lampard is desperate to partner Declan Rice and Kante at the heart of his midfield to protect the defence.
But Lampard knows it won’t be easy to sign Rice with West Ham determined to keep their player.
West Ham have offered Rice a new contract, which doubles his salary to £120,000-per-week.
Though Rice’s current contract expires in 2024, West Ham will offered him a one-year contract extension to end Chelsea’s interest.
West Ham co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold want Rice to stay at the club, and previously raised his salary from £3,000-per-week to £60,000-a-week.
Rice is key to David Moyes’s plans, who have started the new Premier League season impressively.
After losing their first two season matches, West Ham have won against Wolves and Leicester, and got draws against Manchester City and Tottenham.
Last weekend, West Ham suffered a narrow defeat against Liverpool in the Premier League, but Rice was again impressive for the London Club.
