Chelsea and Declan Rice moving at a glacial speed, but they are moving

Yes, it’s another Declan Rice to Chelsea article. I know, West Ham fans will be screaming “he’s never leaving!” and Chelsea fans will be a mix of “I don’t want him!” and “can’t wait!”. Chelsea’s pursuit of Declan Rice over the past year (at least) has moved at a glacial speed. But it is moving constantly regardless.

It’s not unsurprising that details are starting to come out now while the Euros are in play. Rice is spending a lot of time with players from Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea. A future move has surely come up, even if only jokingly. And, seeing a club that wanted him last summer winning the Champions League that season has surely got him thinking.

The latest is that Rice has been turning down contract offers and he wants to be “alerted” of any bids for him. None of that is all that unusual. Pretty standard stuff really which is why the pace is still glacial. But, it does imply that Rice is now more willing to push from his side of things for a move. There have been prices quoted up to £100 million but that’s predicated on things staying as they currently are. Rice pushing, or pushing publicly even, might start to force West Ham to drop the price. Add in players coming the other way that they might be interested in and the club is looking to sell, like Tammy Abraham, and a deal seems more and more likely.

It also helps that, despite all the rumors about the Chelsea board being upset with Frank Lampard’s interest in Rice, Thomas Tuchel wants him too. If one manager wants a player, that’s one thing. If two want them? Well maybe it’s not all about being best friends with Mason Mount.

Rice has mostly played as a holding midfielder in a pivot as of late, but he does have a history of playing as a centerback. Supposedly, his long term future was still seen as a centerback by Lampard’s staff. Lampard likely would have used him as the deepest midfielder in his 4-3-3. Tuchel might have a similar idea with a small twist.

At Paris Saint-Germain, Tuchel used Marquinhos as a fluid player shuttling between midfield and a back three. This allowed PSG to be able to go between 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 or 4-2-2-2 and 3-4-1-2 without changing a single player. He might see a similar platform in Rice.

But, so much of the opposition to a Rice deal seems to come down to Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic which doesn’t make much sense the more one thinks about it. Tuchel likes a large squad but even more importantly a team of Chelsea’s caliber requires one. Rice likely plays in midfield in the same capacity that he does for West Ham, but he’s not going to send anyone into exile. Tuchel will be able to rotate and keep his freshest, most in form players in the lineup. And besides, N’Golo Kante and Jorginho aren’t getting younger. At some point, the club has to prepare for what comes next.

If this deal happens this summer, it will likely happen late and require even more pushing from Rice’s side of things. It’s doable, he would improve the side no matter what the boo boys think, but it is not a guarantee. More than anything, if Tuchel says he wants Rice, that should be all the incentive Chelsea needs to push to drop the price to something reasonable and make it happen.