Former West Ham striker Carlton Cole believes it is not the right time for Declan Rice to join Chelsea

Chelsea have been interested in signing West Ham United star midfielder Declan Rice. But recently former Hammers striker Carlton Cole shared how he does not feel that this is the right time for the England international to leave the club and join the Blues.

Rice has been one of the most rumoured players to leave West Ham with links all around the Premier League but especially with Manchester United and Chelsea as both clubs need a midfielder with his traits.

There are also reports from various news organizations which suggest that the 23-year-old has turned down contract talks with the Hammers and have shown signs of moving away the London Stadium. Reportedly Declan Rice has turned down two contract offers from West Ham United and is looking for a move elsewhere. The young midfielder wants to move to a club which can offer him European football preferably Champions League. His current contract runs till 2024 and if the Hammers decide to not sell him now they may have to leave him for free.

However Rice’s demand for Champions League football puts Chelsea in the forefront as Manchester United are already looking at other options like Frenkie De Jong. So if they manage to get hold of the Barcelona midfielder, the chance of coming back to Declan Rice is very low as their new manager wants to sign his former player Frenkie De Jong as he has been a trusted soldier for Ten Hag for a long time and he wants him to continue that trend at Old Trafford.

However former West Ham forward Carlton Cole who also plied his trade for Chelsea feels that this is not the correct time for Rice to make a move to Stamford Bridge. He told The Sun, “Declan is obviously really important. Obviously, there’s speculation about his future here, there and everywhere. But right now I just don’t feel it’s the right time for him to be moving on.”

Cole shared how the Hammers recently have lost Mark Noble and they cannot be losing any more of their best talents as they look to play in Europe regularly. So losing someone of Rice’s statute will be a big hit for West Ham’s plans going forward.

“I think he’s at a club where they have expectations to push on and I think as long as he understands the project and he knows his place within the team. We can’t lose too many [players]. We’ve just lost Mark Noble and I think we’ve got a few others that we’ve lost now so we have to bolster and we can’t be letting our best players go at the moment,” Cole added.

Rice was sensational in the middle of the park for David Moyes’ men as the Hammers reached the semifinals of the Europa League and did well in the Premier League as well. Apart from recovering balls and cutting passing lanes he also scored five goals and came up with four assists proving that he is far from an one dimensional player.