West Ham’s owners have finally given up the ghost and have admitted today that Declan Rice has played his last game for the club and will leave this summer.
The midfielder captained his team to a 2-1 win over Fiorentina in the UEFA Conference League final last night, but his plan has been to move on for some time.
Hammers owner David Sullivan was on TalkSport this morning where he revealed for the first time that Rice had been promised he could go:
“I think it has to be [his last game]. We promised him he could go. He set his heart on going. You can’t ask for a man who has committed more to us this season. He has to get on & we have to get a replacement.”
Prices as high as £100m have been quoted for the England international
WH owner David Sullivan speaking to @talkSPORT about Declan Rice:
"I think it has to be [his last game]. We promised him he could go. He set his heart on going. You can't ask for a man who has committed more to us this season. He has to get on & we have to get a replacement."
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) June 8, 2023
Chelsea are basically out of the race to sign him by all accounts. He will cost a vast amount and will want Champions League football above all else. Not only that, but his old mate Mason Mount, whose presence always drove the rumours about a move to Chelsea, is leaving and has been treated pretty shabbily by Chelsea.
We could well regret holding fire for all those years when we could have had him. While he moves to Arsenal or Bayern Munich, we will be left shopping in the mid-range category of holding midfielder.
