Rice on menu at Spurs
WEST HAM starlet Declan Rice is a £35million summer target for Tottenham.
The north London club are preparing for the possible exit of Danish star Christian Eriksen at the end of the season, with the midfielder’s contract due to run out in 17 months and Real Madrid keen.
Rice has been on Tottenham’s radar for some time and, even though the 20-year-old signed a new five-and-a-half-year deal in December, West Ham face a battle to hang on to the academy product with Liverpool also interested.
West Ham travel to Crystal Palace today with Eagles manager Roy Hodgson optimistic that Wilfried Zaha will succeed in his appeal against a further one-match ban for being sent off at Southampton.
The forward was charged with improper conduct and then fined £10,000 by the FA for sarcastically applauding referee Andre Marriner after being sent off for a second yellow card at St Mary’s.
He has already missed one match, last week against Fulham, but will be banned for an additional one should his appeal not succeed.
But Hodgson said: “A one-match ban, which he has already served, was more than sufficient punishment for the event and we made that clear at the commission.
“We hope that further one-match ban will be crushed. It’s obvious he’s upset about it.”