OPINION
Former West Ham striker and current academy coach Carlton Cole has stated his opinion regarding Declan Rice saying that he should just focus on staying at the London Stadium.
In a recent interview speaking to GOAL, Cole stated: “I would urge to Declan to think twice about looking beyond West Ham at this stage in his career,
“He should learn his trade properly and West Ham is the perfect stage for him to do that.”
Cole is surely echoing the thoughts of many West Ham fans as they love to keep Rice where he is, but he may be wrong to do so.
Rice is definitely ahead of his time with regards to his age, especially considering he’s only 20 years old and has cemented his place in the Hammers starting eleven in recent months.
However, this surely would support the notion that he is in fact ready for a move, due to his innate talent and ability at this level of football.
As one of the stand-out young players of the season this year in the Premier League, arguably this has been Rice’s breakout season, and his future is definitely not certain in the slightest.
The whole Rice saga seems to mimic that of Reece Oxford, who had a similar hype surrounding him when he broke out into the first team at the age of 16 against Arsenal.
There were a number of rumours suggesting that Oxford would leave West Ham, but the defender opted to stay put, being sent out on loan numerous times abroad in the last few years.
Realistically, now would be the ideal time for Rice to make the switch, if he were to do it at all, due to the sheer amount of hype surrounding the 20-year old.
Arguably, it would be just as easy for Rice to thrive at West Ham as it would be for him to be either replaced or hit some bad form, so if a top-side are come calling, it might not be such a bad idea to accept.
As there’s no guarantee Rice will keep his form up in order to attract such a big club again if one comes calling, and if he has those sort of ambitions he should snatch the chance even though it’d be sad to see him leave.
