Chelsea ‘to launch Declan Rice bid’ as Blues look to take spending over £250m

Chelsea’s top remaining target is reportedly the versatile West Ham youngster Declan Rice.

The Blues have embarked on a remarkable spending spree this summer, splashing out around £48million on German striker Timo Werner, £45million on England left-back Ben Chilwell and £36million on Dutch attacker Hakim Ziyech.

Bayer Leverkusen winger Kai Havertz is also due at Stamford Bridge in the next few days in what would be a club-record £72million deal.

The glut of signings extends to ex-PSG, AC Milan and Brazil captain Thiago Silva and France U21 international Malang Sarr on free transfers.

Rice would be Frank Lampard’s seventh major signing ahead of the new season, having seen off the club’s transfer ban this time last year, and it would take their total outgoings above £250million for the first time in a transfer single window.

According to The Sun, Chelsea consider Rice, who can play in both midfield and defence, an important piece in the puzzle as they look to mount a Premier League title challenge again.

West Ham rate the 21-year-old at £80million but the Blues are willing to wait for a discount, knowing that their London rivals urgently need to sell before they can begin to buy.

The same strategy worked when Chelsea played the long game for Chilwell, who was initially worth an extra £20million to Leicester City.

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The most a Premier League side has spent in one transfer window is £224million when Manchester City bought Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, Ederson and Danilo in 2017.

Chelsea’s expenditure would come closer to Real Madrid ’s world-record £273million haul last summer, which included the Blues own star attacker Eden Hazard, as well as Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy, Rodrygo and Eder Militao.

In the meantime, the Blues will play in front of supporters for the first time since the UK went into lockdown when they take on Brighton in a pre-season friendly at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.