West Ham legend Tony Cottee has warned the Hammers must finish in the top four this season to keep Declan Rice – but he fears they will fall short.
The Hammers slapped a huge £150 million price tag on their club captain to keep him out of Chelsea and Manchester United's range in the transfer window. But Cottee, who scored 117 goals in 255 appearances for West Ham in the 1980s, believes this season will be Rice's last in claret and blue and he expects the England midfielder to leave the Taxpayers Stadium next summer.
He said: “West Ham have done well to keep Declan this season. It was important that they stamped their authority and put a ridiculous price tag on his head. If you don’t pay £120 million for Harry Kane, you’re not going to pay £150 million for Declan. But the further into his contract he is, the cheaper he will be.
“This time next year, you might be able to pick him up for £90 million or £100 million, which is more realistic for the big boys. I can honestly say Declan is good enough to play for any of the top six clubs in this country, as well as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG... name any club in Europe, he is good enough to play there.
“I hope West Ham can keep him - but I fear the worst, as all West Ham fans do. The only way they can potentially keep him is for West Ham to get into the Champions League for next season, and I think that could be a step too far for them this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in a year’s time, he’ll be lining up for his new club.
“West Ham fans will wish him well because he’s given his heart for the club and he wants to win something. That was ultimately why I left West Ham for Everton 35 years ago – you get frustrated that the club aren’t winning anything. And when he goes to the England squad and talks to the Man City or Liverpool boys, and they’re talking about winning stuff and playing in the Champions League, that’s what he’ll want to do.
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“He’s not getting any younger. He’ll be 24 this time next year and he’ll want to play Champions League football. Unless West Ham finish in the top four, I think we’ll see Declan playing for somebody else next year.” Cottee fears the prospect of more Thursday night trips in Europe will test manager David Moyes' squad depth to the limit, saying: “I can’t see them challenging for the top four. I think it will be a difficult season for them.
“They have the Europa Conference League play-offs coming up. If they get through they’ll have the group games on Thursday nights and Premier League games on Sundays. It’s hard to see them beating what they’ve done in the last two seasons – sixth and seventh.” But Cottee, briefly the most expensive player in Britain when he moved to Everton for £2.2 million in 1988, is not too distraught that the Hammers missed out on signing Jesse Lingard after the England forward's stellar loan spell for the Irons last year.
After leaving Manchester United as a free agent, Lingard snubbed West Ham to take up a more lucrative offer from promoted Nottingham Forest, and Cottee, speaking to BETDAQ, added: “It's a good signing for Forest. But for West Ham to have broken their pay structure for a 29-year-old who hasn’t really played too much football in the last couple of years, I think it would have been a risk. “From a football point of view, I am a little bit disappointed as I think if he had come to West Ham he would have been more in the spotlight and he would have a better chance of getting into the England squad for the World Cup. Forest’s first home fixture is against West Ham, so it will be interesting to see what sort of reception he gets from the West Ham fans!”
