If what is being reported is to believed, we are pretty much there with the deal, it is just the structure of it that needs work and I'd assume it is the agent pushing for a change in structure as opposed to the player.
Putting it in basic recruitment terms, Rice's agent is pushing for a higher base with less commission (he gets paid a percentage of the base of course).
Telegraph Sport understands that the latest rejected offer was for a basic £15,000-a-week plus £20,000 for every Premier League game Rice started - plus a rise of £5,000-a-week after every 15 Premier League starts.
That would mean Rice would get £20,000-a-week basic after 15 games, £25,000-a-week basic after 30 starts and so on - plus the £20,000 per league start on top.
So after 15 league starts Rice would earn £40,000-a-week each time he started a game.
With Rice looking like a nailed on starter for us now, he could realistically be looking to start 30 of the 38 EPL games for us which would improve his weekly wage by 10k each season from here on. He'd also be getting 20k each time he starts. It is a decent deal for him with his wages more than likely improving automatically as he grows as a player.
West Ham have now improved that offer further with, it is understood, Rice’s representatives arguing for a higher basic salary and fewer add-ons. However, contrary to claims, Rice is not out of contract at the end of this season so West Ham can wait.
Rice is contracted until June 2020, and West Ham have an option that can be triggered to extend for another 12 months, keeping him here on 3k a week until June 2021, then still take a compensation payout if he walked away due to him being an academy graduate. Obviously no one at the club would want that to happen as it will massively upset the player and no doubt the whole dressing room.
The agent might think he holds all the cards here, but ultimately he is screwing Declan out of a considerable amount of money each week as things stand, all in the hope of getting himself a bigger commission cheque when the contract is eventually signed (let's be honest, the agent doesn't care when that is, as long as it is signed eventually).
Let's not forget that an agents fee would be paid as a percentage of the basic wage over the full term of the contract so an extra 5k a week over five years is worth fighting for in his eyes, while the match fees and hypothetical appearance increase mean nothing to him. Declan could currently be banking them each week however.
Even on the numbers reported in the previously rejected deal, Declan is missing out on 12k per week for every week he does not sign this deal and he is presumably not racking up his Premier League starts either (he has started 8 games this season already so would be well on the way to the first of his 5k increases).
By my calculations (which may be wildly inaccurate), for every 12 weeks it drags on, Declan is missing out on a years worth of his base being 5k per week higher.