David Moyes could seal another West Ham masterclass as an exciting claim has emerged...

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According to The Sun, the Hammers are set to try and tie England star Declan Rice down to a bumper deal using wages freed up by the departure of Felipe Anderson.

The £42m flop is set to rejoin Lazio for only £5m, just three years after leaving the Serie A outfit for the London Stadium, so the East Londoners will look to use the extra cash available to keep hold of Moyes' key man.

Moyes masterclass

In recent weeks, reports had surfaced suggesting that the 22-year-old powerhouse had rejected two new contract offers from the club amid interest from some of the Premier League's heavyweights, including Chelsea and Manchester United.

The ever-reliable ExWHUemployee claimed that Rice wants to be paid to reflect his ability, considering he has just excelled at Euro 2020, where he picked up his 24th cap for the Three Lions.

Now that Moyes has his own recruitment team in place, this allows the Scotsman to identify where his budget can go and now with Anderson out the door, he could well give Rice the contract he's deserving of.

It's thought that Anderson was amongst the club's highest-earners on around £85k-per-week, whilst Rice only saw his £2k-per-week deal turn into £60k-per-week two years ago.

The Hammers academy graduate is currently valued at £63m by Transfermarkt, which is the highest of any player in the squad right now, so you can't blame him for wanting to be paid correctly.

This news should also help alleviate any fears amid interest from some of the Premier League's 'big six' - the sort that have the financial muscle to bully GSB into a deal.

If these reports are to be believed, then it puts Moyes in a strong position to keep the England sensation and that should leave many buzzing around the London Stadium.

After delivering the goods with the signings of Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal and Jesse Lingard in recent windows, tying Rice down for the long-term would arguably be the tip of the iceberg and yet another masterclass from the Irons boss.

AND in other news, West Ham insider drops Jesse Lingard update...