Tottenham and West Ham are surprisingly being linked with each other’s midfielders.
Deals between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United haven’t been exactly common in recent years, but they may well be asking each other about potential deals in 2019.
The two London teams have met twice at the London Stadium this season already, with Erik Lamela heading home a winner for Spurs in a 1-0 victory, before Son Heung-min scored twice in a 3-1 Carabao Cup win for Tottenham last week.
With the rivalry between the two clubs, transfers aren’t a regular occurrence, but there were claims in Tuttosport last week that West Ham are interested in landing Spurs midfielder Victor Wanyama.
And over the weekend, the Daily Mail reported that Tottenham are keen to land West Ham midfielder Declan Rice, who is still yet to sign a new contract with the Hammers.
It will be hugely difficult to prise Rice away from West Ham; the homegrown anchor man has played far beyond his 19 years of age, and the Hammers won’t want to lose such an impressive player to a bitter rival.
Yet, with West Ham wanting Wanyama – a player who has fallen a little down the Spurs pecking order over the last year – may just give Tottenham the opportunity to offer up the Kenyan in a part-exchange deal.
Rice and Harry Winks could form a midfield partnership for Spurs and England for years to come if such a deal took place, and it would at least give West Ham something to think about over Rice’s future.
If the situation over Rice’s contract isn’t resolved soon, then landing a proven Premier League midfielder like Wanyama may become more and more appealing, and Spurs may just hope that they can engineer an unlikely trade in order to win the race for Rice’s signature in 2019.
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