Chelsea transfer target Declan Rice has admitted he would love to partner up with his childhood friend Mason Mount at club level.
Rice used to play with Mason Mount in Chelsea’s youth ranks. He joined West Ham after he was released by the Blues seven years ago and he broke into their first team last season.
He told Copa90: “Yeah I’d love to, I’d love to play with him at club level again.
“One thing we’ve always said as kid we’d love to play with each other at club and international level “But obviously you never know because of different paths and things like that.” Meanwhile, West Ham winger Matt Jarvis has backed Chelsea to sign Rice in the summer.
“He’s a very talented young player who’s obviously playing week in, week out at West Ham and also playing for England,” Jarvis told talkSPORT.
“He’s really got on to the scene and doing extremely well. “He’s obviously going to want to continue to improve and it’s just whether he feels if it’s the right time for him if he wants to move on or not. “I think Chelsea are a club who are going in the right direction under Lampard.
“The youngsters are getting their opportunities, so it would be a good fit for him to go in with a few other youngsters. “He’s a really important figure at West Ham. He’s come through the youth team, he’s got great potential and he’s showing it now.
“It’s really hard to put an exact figure on it. Obviously West Ham won’t want to let him go as he’s an integral part of their team, so they’ll be expecting, if bids are coming in, that they’ll have to be a lot higher than the usual one. “He’s young and he’s playing for England already; you’ve got to be looking at probably above £50m in this [market].”