England international Declan Rice has said that he is committed to West Ham United despite the constant speculation surrounding his future with the club. The young midfielder only penned a new five-year deal with the Hammers in December and he has indicated that he has no immediate plans of pursuing a bigger challenge.

Speaking to Goal.com, Rice said that he has no worries regarding his current position with the Hammers and has a great relationship with the supporters, he told: “Everything’s good,’ Rice said. I know there’s speculation but during the season I signed a new five-year contract with West Ham, so my focus is fully on playing for West Ham. I have a great connection with the fans. The fans love me, I love them, and that’s the way it is at the moment. I’m not thinking about anything else.”

He added that he does have the ambition of playing at the highest level and could pursue a move to a Champions League-based club in the future, he continued: “I think when you start out in football for sure you always want to play at the top. You want to play in the Champions Leagues. I think if you were in football and didn’t want to do that, there’d be no point in playing.”

United have been touted to make an approach for Rice since the close of the season and reports have claimed that they may have to cough up around £60m to land his signature. Nonetheless, they don’t have the assurance of Champions League football after only managing a sixth-place finish in the Premier League and that could still hamper them in the quest to pursue the midfielder.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have so far landed the signature of Daniel James from Swansea City but they are also looking into potential moves for Sean Longstaff and Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Newcastle United and Crystal Palace respectively.