Joe Hart once chased a young Declan Rice 'the whole way around the London Stadium'

Joe Hart once chased Declan Rice 'the whole way around the London Stadium' after being taunted by the then teenager in a West Ham training session.

Hart - now a firm fan favourite at Celtic - made the switch to the London Stadium ahead of the 2017-18 season after the former England number one fell out of favour at Manchester City following the arrival of Pep Guardiola.

The Englishman failed to make an impression on the Hammers hierarchy - making just 17 appearances before returning to his parent club at the end of the campaign - but he certainly made his impression on a young Declan Rice.

That's according to former West Ham captain Mark Noble, with 'Mr West Ham' telling Ben Fosters' Fozcast of the time the two came head-to-head on the training ground.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Noble tells the story of the time 19-year-old Rice got under the skin of the English veteran during a shooting drill:

"'Harty will tell you this. We were doing a shooting session, the coach pings it at you, you have a touch and finish.

"Dec must've been young, like 19 at the time, and he's had a touch and he's got a lovely strike on him.

"He's whipped one of them past Harty and Harty dived for it and didn't get there and he went "Harty, one day son."

"Harty went 'Dec, if you say that again I'm going to [beat you up].

"It's come back to Dec and he's missed one, he's hit another one and it's gone in and I said "go on, say it."

"He went, "one day, Harty" and I swear to you, Harty has just left him, sprinted across the pitch and Dec's took off down the tunnel, chased him the whole way around the London Stadium, like the whole way through it, got him and beat him up.

"Harty was mad. He is such a tank, he is so strong. I played with him at England for all age groups and he's a top fella. He's just mad, they're all mad."

Image credit: Alamy

The incident didn't appear to have a lasting effect on the English youngster though, with Rice going on to establish himself as a regular in the West Ham side, before replacing Noble as the Hammers captain following his retirement in 2022.

Rice's long-term future has been plunged into doubt in recent months, after admitting that 'he doesn't want to have a career where he's won nothing'.

Topics: Joe Hart, Declan Rice, West Ham United

Tom Young

@TomYoungSJ