West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini has opened the door to Manchester United or neighbours City snapping up England new boy Declan Rice in a summer transfer.
Rice made his Three Lions debut and first start in the past week's Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro respectively after controversially switching allegiance having played for the Republic of Ireland in the age-group levels and in three senior friendlies.
The two Manchester clubs are both monitoring the 20-year-old midfielder and Pellegrini, a former Man City manager, accepted that every player has his price — but also stressed Rice does not want to leave the London Stadium and that any club signing him will have to fork out major money.
Pellegrini said: “You never want to sell your good players but you understand that in some clubs, always there will be a deal.
“If the player wants to go, if the deal is very good for the player, if the deal is very good for this club and he can continue growing, it’s very difficult for you to keep the player.
“The important thing is Declan Rice is not thinking about going out of this team. He thinks to play here, and the future depends on so many things.
“We cannot just talk about rumours.”
West Ham youth product Rice, who started in Monday's 5-1 away win in Montenegro after a 25-minute run-out as a substitute as England thumped the Czechs 5-0 at Wembley three days earlier, only signed a new a contract in December that commits him to the east Londoners until 2024 and the club are determined not to sell him in the summer.
But the fear is that a major bid from one of the Premier League's Big Six sides, who could treble his current wages of around £40,000-a-week while also offering a better chance at European football, could turn his head.
