Darren Gough was taken back when a West Ham fan claimed that Declan Rice would never leave the club.
A Hammers fan called into talkSPORT when Adrian Durham and Gough were on air to take a dig at Tottenham following them reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Gough claimed he hoped fan favourite Rice never made the jump from the Hammers to Spurs based on how this one supporter felt about Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
“One things for sure is I hope Declan Rice doesn’t go to Tottenham,” joked Gough on talkSPORT (18:53, Thursday April 18th)
This prompted the West Ham fan to dismiss that idea: “He won’t, he won’t leave, he’ll never go.”
Gough then quickly responded to express his doubt over the Hammers being able to keep the 20-year-old at the London Stadium for the rest of his career.
“Well I wouldn’t say never…” said the former English cricketer, with doubt in his voice.
OPINION
Gough was quick to share his doubt over Rice being a one-man club at senior level and Durham did moments later highlight how Sol Campbell made the jump from Tottenham to Arsenal. The broadcaster clearly highlighted that transfer to suggest you couldn’t rule out a fan favourite or a key player moving to a side’s archrivals as it has happened before. Yet while Gough has his doubts, whose to say Rice won’t stick around for the whole of his career at the London Stadium. The 20-year-old midfield enforcer can grow with the club and hopefully achieve everything he wants to in football without jumping ship. While that seems like a dream at the moment for some, the Hammers have heavily invested in their team in recent windows, have appointed a capable manager in the form of Manuel Pellegrini and seem to have grand ambitions to take the club forward. With that in mind, maybe Rice never leaving the Hammers shouldn’t be scoffed at like Gough sort of did.