Former West Ham United academy director Tony Carr has insisted that the club have no pressing need to sell Declan Rice and believes the player could stay for another two seasons before moving on.

The 21-year-old defensive midfielder has been putting in solid performances in recent weeks and has been a key reason behind the Hammers pulling away from the relegation zone.  

 



West Ham have guaranteed their safety in the Premier League and David Moyes has made it clear that he is not interested in letting Rice leave, despite interest from Chelsea.

Carr believes Premier League safety will turn out to be the key factor as Rice was guaranteed to leave West Ham if they were relegated to the Championship.
 


A big-money offer from a club such as Chelsea could still change West Ham’s mind on the England international’s future, but Carr believes the club can easily keep him for two more years before he moves on to a bigger stage.



“If West Ham suffered relegation it would’ve been inevitable that Declan would go”, the former West Ham academy director told The Athletic.

“Other than financial I don’t see any other reasons why he should leave West Ham.
 

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“If he gave the club a couple more years at the very least and kept progressing and becoming an established international player he would still be young enough to go to one of the big clubs.”

West Ham are keen to progress from this season and it remains to be seen if they can be convinced to sell Rice.