Declan Rice responds after Yaya Toure tells him to join Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur coach Yaya Toure visited the home of West Ham’s Declan Rice recently and couldn’t help but laugh at some of the shirts the England midfielder had framed on his wall.

The former Manchester City star was announced as a coach in Tottenham’s academy over the summer, taking control of the U16 side for the north London club.

In a feature for Goal, Toure surprised Rice at his home. Rice has spoken before of how he regards Toure as his footballing icon, which makes sense given the dynamic style of play the West Ham midfielder exhibits on the pitch.

They say never meet your heroes, though, and Rice may well agree with that after Toure took the opportunity to mock Rice’s decor. More specifically, Toure found the funny in the fact that Rice had three Tottenham Hotspur shirts framed on his walls.

Rice, a product of the Chelsea youth system before moving to West Ham’s academy, has developed into a fan favourite for the Hammers and currently captains the team. The England star has now made 215 appearances for West Ham, scoring 11 goals along the way (Transfermarkt).

While London rivalries among supporters may be fierce, that clearly hasn’t stopped Rice from appreciating his peers in the game, regardless of the team they play for. Rice has Tottenham shirts from Harry Kane, Heung-min Son, and Gareth Bale framed on his walls.

Toure said: “Harry Kane – Tottenham! You have to come and play at Tottenham and you have two (shirts) on there!”

Rice replied: “I know, Son, what a player…”

Some Hammers fans might take offence to Rice’s decision to frame the shirt of a rival, but we shouldn’t read too much into it.

Spurs Web Opinion

To be fair to Declan Rice, those three players are icons of the game and displaying their shirts is less about rivalries and more about the fact he is respecting their status in football. Mind you, you couldn’t pay me to touch an Arsenal shirt.

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