West Ham confident Frank Lampard sacking will end Chelsea's pursuit of Declan Rice

West Ham United are confident that Frank Lampard’s sacking will end Chelsea’s interest in re-signing Declan Rice.

Lampard had wanted Rice as one of his top targets last summer and moving forwards, but faced opposition from within Chelsea over his interest.

The likelihood of the Blues now pursuing Rice, who West Ham United value at over £80million, is now rated as highly unlikely unless new head coach Thomas Tuchel makes him a priority.

Chelsea spent £220m in the summer transfer window, but would not sanction a move for Rice without raising the money through player sales, which they did not manage to do.

Lampard had kept Rice at the top of his shopping list, even though a January move was highly unlikely, and wanted Chelsea to sell a host of players to help finance a deal.

To meet West Ham's valuation, Lampard was prepared to sell Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, Antonio Rudiger, Marcos Alonso and Kepa Arrizabalaga to try and finance the move.

But Chelsea instead kept their senior fringe players, some of whom may get another chance under Tuchel and there is currently no plan to make a bid for Rice.

That, of course, could change once Tuchel starts to formulate his own transfer plans for the summer but there is no strong desire from inside Chelsea to re-sign Rice, who left the club as a 14-year-old.

While there is no doubt over Rice’s talent, the club are reticent about spending such a huge amount of money on a player they allowed to leave for free.

There is also a belief in Chelsea that they are well stocked in midfield and that, in N’Golo Kante and Jorginho, who Tuchel is a fan of, they already have two players who can play the holding role that Rice occupies for club and country.

While the news will be a boost to West Ham, it may come as a blow to Rice who is understood to have been keen to rejoin his childhood friend Mason Mount at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool could emerge as a potential alternative destination to Chelsea for Rice in the summer, depending on how much Jurgen Klopp is given to spend on transfers.