Declan Rice is worth more than £150 million ($197m) to West Ham, per Irons boss David Moyes, who has reiterated that the England international is not for sale at London Stadium this summer.
Midfielder Rice, who saw his stock hit new heights last summer after guiding the Hammers into Europe and then England to the final of Euro 2020, has only seen his reputation soar further this term, as his club make serious inroads into the Europa League.
He is expected to be a key figure to the Three Lions' World Cup hopes at Qatar 2022 later this year too, but despite the interest of Chelsea and Manchester United among other big suitors, Moyes insists that West Ham will not sell, even at an eye-watering price.
What has been said?
"The first thing to say is that he is not for sale," Moyes told his pre-match press conference ahead of his side's clash with Everton. "But if you are interested, it will be north of that, because £100m ($131m) was cheap last summer and £150m just now would be minimum - but he is not for sale."
"I look at what Tottenham did with Harry Kane, albeit it in a different way. They said, 'no, there is a price and if someone wants to pay the price, then we'd probably do it. If they don't then he's not going anywhere'. That's it, they have kept him.
Next Match
"There will be times when players have got the power, but at the moment we have got Declan on the best part of a three-and-a-half-year contract - just like Tottenham have got Harry Kane on a contract and they control what happens."
The bigger picture
If West Ham intend to echo Tottenham's stance from last year, then the Hammers could be in for a protracted stand-off with their star man, particularly if Rice desires a move to find Champions League football.
Spurs striker Kane famously wanted to move to Manchester City, only for a succession of big-money offers to be knocked back in north London.
Rice however is likely to be more immediately focused on securing long-awaited silverware with West Ham, who face Lyon on Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
