Tottenham Hotspur snatching Declan Rice from West Ham would be carbon-copy of Michael Carrick exit

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Tottenham Hotspur have recently become the latest team to be linked with a move for West Ham United star Declan Rice.

The Sun recently reported that Spurs were keen on the Hammers star, along with Chelsea and Manchester United.

Rice has been in fantastic form for West Ham throughout 2018 and the 19-year-old is one of the best young talents in the Premier League.

He is currently in a contract stand-off with West Ham and it looks increasingly likely that he will be on his way out of the London Stadium.

Tottenham are undoubtedly right to be targeting the player. It certainly has similarities to a deal they did back in 2004.

As reported by The Guardian, Carrick was snapped up for £3.5 million that summer after Tottenham failed to convince Owen Hargreaves to turn his back on German football at Bayern Munich.

Carrick joined Spurs with just one year left on his contract, West Ham cashing in before it expired in 2005. If Tottenham were to do a similar deal for Rice, it would be a similar scenario.

Transfer fees have skyrocketed in what will be the 15 years since, so £3.5 million seems an unlikely figure for Rice.

But Tottenham could once again take full advantage of West Ham’s inability to tie down their top prospects by pushing them into Rice’s sale.