London, Nov 1: Chelsea are weighing up a Summer swoop for West Ham teenage sensation Declan Rice after his rejection of a new contract proposal from the side, according to reports.

Rice spent seven years at the Blue’s academy but was released by them as a 14-year-old. Since then the 19-year-old young midfielder has slowly established himself through the Hammers academy ranks and got his long-awaited Hammers debut last season.

Furthermore, this season he has seen himself as a regular under new manager Manuel Pellegrini and has been impressive so far. The defensive midfielder who can also play as centre-back is currently has a contract with the side till 2020 and is on a £3,000-a-week payroll.

It is understood that to reward the player for his rise to the senior team, the London based side are now ready to offer him a bumper pay rise and have held talks with the midfielder’s representatives over an extension to his current deal that runs out in 2020.

West Ham have reportedly offered Rice an improved deal of around £20,000-a-week to stay at the London Stadium however as per reports, the midfielder has turned down the deal in a bid to holding out for more.

However, it has reportedly alerted fellow rival Chelsea who now have turned their attention towards the teenager and as per METRO, Chelsea are willing to offer Rice wages of around £40,000-a-week.

West Ham, however, are apparently still hopeful of tying up the midfielder with an improved deal but should Rice's decision of rejecting to sign a new deal remain until the end of the season, certainly, the Hammers will consider selling the teenager rather than letting him leave on a free the following year.

Chelsea did well to strengthen in midfield this season by bringing in Kovacic and Jorginho, but surely there is room for more improvement in that position. Should the teenager move, he mostly would replace AC Milan loan Tiemoue Bakayoko and outcast Danny Drinkwater for whom Chelsea are searching permanent buyers.