David Moyes remains set on overhauling the West Ham squad this summer, but sees Declan Rice as a vital part of his plans going forward.
The Hammers boss is keen to bed in a younger core of players at the London Stadium, moving away from recruiting the likes of Andriy Yarmolenko and Carlos Sanchez in the future.
West Ham are, like most clubs, in a precarious situation financially due to the coronavirus pandemic, but do not see selling Rice, who is contracted until 2024 with an option of a year extension, as a solution to any problems further down the line.
Should funds need to be raised, there are a number of players who could be moved on before Rice, including Felipe Anderson, defender Issa Diop and Manuel Lanzini.
Furthermore the departures of Pablo Zabaleta and Sanchez, the latter thought to be on £75,000-a-week, at the end of their contracts this summer will free up a significant amount of cash to be reinvested.
While West Ham are not entertaining the idea of selling their star academy graduate, it is understood an offer of £70million would be acceptable and hard to turn down, though few clubs may be able to meet that price in a post-virus transfer market.
The additions of Jarrod Bowen, 23, and Tomas Soucek, 25, in January are an indicator of the direction Moyes wants to take the club, looking to build a squad of young, hungry players around Rice - who has never shown a desire to leave the club in the short-term and holds desires of replacing Mark Noble as captain when the 32-year-old eventually moves on.
