Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has tipped Declan Rice to leave West Ham this summer as he predicts another club will pounce for the London Stadium favourite.
The Hammers enforcer has been a revelation for the Irons in the centre of the pitch this season, putting in a series of top quality performances which have earned him a call up to the England squad as well as establishing himself in the Hammers’ starting XI.
However, Merson believes that his displays in the top flight will earn him a move elsewhere when the current campaign comes to an end.
He told Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday (20/04, 14:26): “I’d take Leicester all day long. I don’t see Declan Rice being there. I think a team will come and get him.
“As a holding midfielder, again I thought he was very good at Old Trafford.”
Opinion
The last thing any West Ham fans want this summer is for Rice to depart and there will be hopes that he will show loyalty to the club who has given him a chance to make a name for himself in the professional game. However, if an ambitious side in England or overseas comes in and offers him regular game time not only in the league but in Europe as well, not to mention the promise of a big money contract, then can the Hammers really be expected to keep a hold of him? He has already shown his ambition by changing international allegiances from the Republic of Ireland to England, despite no guarantee he would have been included in the Three Lions’ squad, and he obviously sees himself playing among the very best that football has to offer. Is he going to get that at West Ham? Probably not and so the Irons have got to be worried about him leaving east London.