Former West Ham striker Carlton Cole has aimed a dig at Manchester United amid the transfer links with Declan Rice ahead of the summer.
The pundit can’t see any reason for Rice to leave the London Stadium for Old Trafford right now, hitting out at the suggestion that joining Man Utd would be a step up due to their current poor position.
Cole seemed more sympathetic to the idea of Rice joining Chelsea, but suggested their current crisis with owner Roman Abramovich probably made that move unlikely.
All in all, Cole insisted that there was every reason for Rice to snub any offers from so-called bigger clubs to stay with the Hammers, who have improved a great deal under David Moyes.
Speaking at a Bookmakers.com event, as quoted by the Daily Mail, Cole said: “Where is he going? I just can’t see him going anywhere and [clubs] affording the price.
“I don’t think Chelsea can do it at the moment for obvious reasons for this season. Where else is he going to go? Man United? No, they aren’t in a good place at the moment either. Why go to Man United when you can stay at West Ham?
“We’ll finish above Man United and what are you gonna say then? Nothing, you can’t just go and get our best players. We’ll finish above Man United and no one is going to stay anything. He is gonna stay at the best club possible.
“Especially if they bring somebody else in that compliments his style, you’ve got [Tomas] Soucek there, bring another striker in and all of this conversation will be done at the end of the season.
“I don’t see a reason why he [Rice] should want to leave. He is not the sort of guy that is going to be chasing after money, otherwise he’d have done that by now.
“He knows his home truths, he knows exactly what he needs to do and that is play regular football, and he is doing that at West Ham and he is the main man.”
It will be interesting to see if Rice listens to this advice, as the England international could perhaps do well to think twice about joining United after so many other world class players went there and struggled.
Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Harry Maguire all looked a lot better before winding up with the Red Devils, and Rice might also find it’s an unwise step in what could be a very promising career for him, provided he makes the right choices.