Jose Mourinho’s Spurs are up against it if they want to sign Declan Rice from Premier League rivals West Ham United – but Eric Dier could help.
Tottenham Hotspur want to lure Declan Rice away from rivals West Ham United and could offer Eric Dier to sweeten the deal, according to 90Min. Though it’s fair to say Spurs fans won’t exactly be holding their breath as they wait for one of the summer’s most ambitious transfer sagas to burst into life.
While moves between one London giant and another are not exactly prohibited in the way, say, transfers from Liverpool to Manchester United are, it’s fair to say West Ham fans would not be happy seeing their boy wonder swap claret and blue for the white of Spurs.
The Hammers offered Rice a second chance when he was released by Chelsea five years ago, and their faith has been rewarded with some truly top-class performances from one of the Premier League’s hottest prospects.
There is a reason why Rice, the seven-time England international, is valued at a staggering £70 million (Standard).
So Tottenham are up against it already as they embark on an ambitious move to tempt the 21-year-old from the East to the North side of the city – and not just because West Ham would be loathe to sell a fans’ favourite to a bitter rival.
It remains to be seen whether a player-plus-cash deal which would see Dier go in the other direction would tempt West Ham to cash in, however. It’s certainly an approach worth testing the water with.
Dier certainly has admirers at the London Stadium, according to The Star (12 April, back page) and, like Rice, he is equally comfortable at centre-half or in defensive midfield.
But it’s the finances involved which surely make Rice’s potential club-record move to Tottenham an impossibility – even if Dier does shave a few pounds off his price-tag.
The Englishman is exactly the kind of diligent ‘positional midfielder’ that Jose Mourinho needs. But the Spurs boss also wants a new centre-forward as well as potential reinforcements in goal, out wide and at the heart of his defence. That’s without mentioning the fact that the 2019 Champions League finalists are looking a little vulnerable at full-back these days – or the £600 million debt they owe on their newly built stadium (Guardian).
Rice might be a Tottenham target. But there appears to be far too many obstacles in play here.
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