David Moyes has rubbished suggestions of Declan Rice leaving West Ham in January amid speculation linking him to Liverpool.
The Reds have been tentatively linked with a move for the West Ham midfielder over the last few months. Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal have also seen their names linked with the England international.
Liverpool have seen numerous midfielders linked as a possible target either for the January transfer window or the forthcoming summer. Cody Gakpo, as things stand, remains the Reds’ only piece of transfer business for this month.
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Rice’s future still continues to be the subject of speculation, with reports still linking Liverpool with a potential move. And now Moyes has spoken about his captain’s future.
Moyes has insisted that Rice will not be leaving West Ham this month despite the repeated links with an exit. The former Everton boss went on to explain how important Rice is to his team, having shelved plans to rest him in the FA Cup win over Brentford at the weekend.
“The transfer bit, I'm sure you can put away because that won't be happening in January, that's for sure, and it never was,” Moyes is quoted as saying in Goal.
“What I will say is I would have loved to have thought we could have wrapped Declan [Rice] up and given him time (off) but overall, he's such a huge influence and also the level of the game.
“Maybe if we'd drawn a lower-league team... mind you, I tried that last year at Kidderminster and I needed to bring Dec on to score me the goal to get through!”
Moyes added: “Dec is exactly the same [as Harry Kane]. He wants to play all the games.
“He's whispering in my ear, 'Am I playing in Europe?' I'm saying, 'I'm thinking about not playing you'.
“And he's saying, 'Well I'd rather start'. Maybe I was thinking of giving him 20 minutes, 30 minutes, but he wants to play.”
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