West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has said that he would ‘love to play’ with Chelsea ace Mason Mount at the club level again.
The 21-year-old spent seven years in the Blues academy between 2006 and 2013 but he was thereafter released by the west London side, which paved the way for him to join the Hammers’ youth setup.
Rice has since developed into a quality player for the Hammers in the centre of the park and his performances have made him a regular in the England national side under Gareth Southgate.
In the same period, Mount has progressed with the Blues and following a couple of successive loan stints at Vitesse and Derby County, he has established himself in the first-team squad under manager Frank Lampard.
Both Rice and Mount have already shared the playing field together for the Three Lions this season and the former has now admitted that he has the desire to work alongside his ex-academy teammate at the club level.
“Yeah I’d love to, I’d love to play with him at club level again. ‘One thing we’ve always said as kid we’d love to play with each other at club and international level ‘But obviously you never know because of different paths and things like that,” he told COPA90.
Lampard is understood to hold an interest in signing a new defensive midfielder ahead of next season and Sky Sports has recently claimed that Blues could seek to re-sign their former academy graduate from the Hammers.
Still, David Moyes’ side find themselves in a strong position to keep hold of the midfielder, who has more than four years remaining on his contract with the option for another 12 months. It has recently been reported that the Blues may need to spend a club-record £80m fee to convince the Hammers to sell Rice.
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