West Ham winger Robert Snodgrass predicts it is “only a matter of time” before the Premier League’s top clubs come knocking for Declan Rice.

Snodgrass says he is a big fan of his Hammers teammate’s abilities and he believes there is more to come in terms of his development as a midfielder:

“Listen, for me, he’s one of the best centre midfielders. Me personally I think, because he’s been centre back and he’s moved into defensive midfield, I think he’d be even better going further forward again, I think he’s got goals in him, he’s a great driving force.”

“He’s so level-headed, it’s as if he plays above his age you know. He reads the game so well, he’s a lovely kid, he always wants to learn. And I think, listen, it’s only a matter of time before the big guns come calling.”

“I know the West Ham fans won’t like me for saying this but it’s the nature of the game, right now everybody wants to take top talent, and he’s certainly top talent.”

Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham are all believed to have taken a keen interest in Rice, although reports have also suggested that West Ham would be reluctant to sell the 21-year-old.

An asking price of around £90m had been mentioned, but that may have gone down significantly due to the financial troubles currently being encountered by football clubs.

Irons boss David Moyes has hinted that he would be open to Rice leaving if he could reinvest the money in the squad, but such a scenario doesn’t seem likely at the moment.

West Ham may want to keep hold of one of their prized assets, at least until the transfer market has rebounded back up.