Could Reece Oxford be the reason West Ham aren’t offering Declan Rice his deserved wages?

West Ham United are stalling in handing Declan Rice an improved new deal, according to Mirror Football, with claims that the club and player’s representatives are some distance apart on wages.

The Hammers are ready to offer the teenager £15,000-per-week, a massive increment compared to his current £3,000 wages.

However, Rice’s camp are holding out for £30,000, despite the fact that the club’s proposed wages would rise again to £20,000-a-week once he makes 15 Premier League starts.

The versatile West Ham academy graduate surely deserves to be offered what he has demanded, given that some of his peers and club mates even make much more, and considering his huge potential.

However, it’s believed the London Stadium club reckon the deal could be an incentivized one, having seen the progress of Reece Oxford stall after handing him a massive £20,000-per-week deal following his breakthrough some three years ago.

Since then, the 19-year-old defender has failed to impress on loans at Reading and Borussia Monchengladbach, and he is currently with West Ham’s youth side, with his quality deemed not good enough for the senior side.

Rice has had a similar rise, getting named as the club’s Young Player of the Year for the last two seasons after going on to impress since his debut last year.

It remains to be seen if West Ham will agree to the 19-year-old’s demands, but he surely is worthy of every penny of a £30,000-per-week deal, and there is no need denying him his deserved reward because of Oxford’s shortcomings.