Declan Rice departs West Ham United

Ravel49

OCS 👏 🤣🤣🤣

Fortuneseeker

Yeoldhammer, He is paid to have an opinion IF we are going to stop pundits from doing that there are several former players who have a longer list of offences than him. Loads of players over the years have gone on strike to get their own way so why criticise Danny Murphy for saying something which is often done but obviously not reported as much in the media. I am tired of sports reporters or pundits who either refuse to or are banned from having an opinion.

EXETERHAMMER

Man Utd is the best fit for Decs.

He will be first on the team sheet, they need him, they can afford him.

Utd are also on the way up.

I don't want him to go, but when he does I would rather it be abroad. Yet I think it will be Man Utd.

But please, no McTominay...

steve

If they want to give us Mctominay then it should be 120 m for Rice plus another 5 m to take Mctominay off there hands

EXETERHAMMER

Fortuneseeker said:

Exeter, Which one will they win - The Carabao Cup again?

Genuinely think they will challenge for Champions League (and FA Cup).

buffybegood

I'm more worried about us accepting Maguire than McTominay, even though I'm no fan of the latter either.

Fortuneseeker

Rumours are now saying it's £40 million plus Maguire & Elanga!

Lukerz

It won’t be anybody other than McTominay that Moyes wants. The main desire is cash plus Phillips from City.

IronHerb

I can’t see him going to United, although I would take McTominey.

Expat_Hammer

Wonder if we could do a loan him back for a year deal with City ;hmm

Fortuneseeker

@Lukerz, Whose desire is Phillips plus cash. I would rather Borges or Perrone if they are going to try a part/ex?

alderz

I think Moyes will want Phillips tbh

steve

But does Phillips want Moyes

Lukerz

It’s over to Arsenal. The rumours this morning are all still that Rice wants Arsenal due to being in London, his family being a priority & the fact he can see himself in their side without fail & one of the main men.

They need to show the money. If they can’t, they move on. They’ve just chosen to pay £65m to Chelsea ahead of concluding this deal. Whilst that money won’t be a lump sum, you can assume a proportion of it is. £100m over two seasons, with bonus payments for achievements, is what I am sure the club wants. The fact they were willing to pay around £13m to us a season over four years is insulting. What we going to do with that money this year?

alderz

Lukerz said:

It’s over to Arsenal. The rumours this morning are all still that Rice wants Arsenal due to being in London, his family being a priority & the fact he can see himself in their side without fail & one of the main men.

Here's what I don't understand about this.

He has all of that at West Ham. Arsenal's top earner is Gabriel Jesus (£265kpw) and then it's Martin Odegaard (£200kpw), so it's reasonable to expect that he'll be earning similar to what he's been offered to stay.

If it's about likelihood of winning trophies, Arsenal are probably more likely than us, but they are going to have a real uphill battle every single year to keep up with Man City.

If it's about European football, than - sure - Arsenal look more likely on paper. But they've been in the Europa League for 5 of the past 6 seasons, and this is their first Champions League year since 2016/17. We're now on our third season on the trot.

To me, the only logical options are 1) go to Man City and win loads of stuff and have a massive trophy cabinet in your house, or 2) stay at West Ham where you'll win about the same amount as you'll win at Arsenal and stay in London.

OldCastleSwift

Lukerz said:

It’s over to Arsenal. The rumours this morning are all still that Rice wants Arsenal due to being in London, his family being a priority & the fact he can see himself in their side without fail & one of the main men.

They need to show the money. If they can’t, they move on. They’ve just chosen to pay £65m to Chelsea ahead of concluding this deal. Whilst that money won’t be a lump sum, you can assume a proportion of it is. £100m over two seasons, with bonus payments for achievements, is what I am sure the club wants. The fact they were willing to pay around £13m to us a season over four years is insulting. What we going to do with that money this year?

Then it goes back to alderz's point of the other day; we give them (and Rice) a deadline.

If the gentleman's agreement was to let him go if a club met our valuation - and City are the only ones that have met that valuation by the end of next week - then he either signs for them or stays. I don't want Arsenal, or Rice, to drag this out any longer. They knew the asking price and have failed to meet it, but - as Lukerz says - have committed money elsewhere.

Whilst wanting to avoid sounding like a bitter ex-husband, I've emotionally moved on from Rice. It'll hurt when he goes, but the bottom line is he doesn't want to play for the club anymore. I understand the reason's why, but soon enough he'll be kissing another club's badge, saluting their fans and talking about how special that club is. I always thought I'd follow his career with interest, but even in the recent England games I didn't feel like I was watching a West Ham player and whilst I usually want him to play well, I was pretty ambivalent towards him.

Just want him gone now.

IronHerb

Saka is reportedly on £300k including bonuses.

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

Lukerz said:

It’s over to Arsenal. The rumours this morning are all still that Rice wants Arsenal due to being in London, his family being a priority & the fact he can see himself in their side without fail & one of the main men.

Here's what I don't understand about this.

He has all of that at West Ham. Arsenal's top earner is Gabriel Jesus (£265kpw) and then it's Martin Odegaard (£200kpw), so it's reasonable to expect that he'll be earning similar to what he's been offered to stay.

If it's about likelihood of winning trophies, Arsenal are probably more likely than us, but they are going to have a real uphill battle every single year to keep up with Man City.

If it's about European football, than - sure - Arsenal look more likely on paper. But they've been in the Europa League for 5 of the past 6 seasons, and this is their first Champions League year since 2016/17. We're now on our third season on the trot.

To me, the only logical options are 1) go to Man City and win loads of stuff and have a massive trophy cabinet in your house, or 2) stay at West Ham where you'll win about the same amount as you'll win at Arsenal and stay in London.

Yeah, it's a good point. If what Lukerz says is true about being the main man then it does slightly contradict his previous motives for wanting to move.

I think we've all said it before; a move to City is completely understandable from a career point of view. He'll be winning trophies regularly and, barring some UEFA-imposed punishment, they and he will be playing CL football against the best every single season.

I could even understand him wanting to go to Chelsea as he was a fan. But Arsenal? Sure, they have CL this season, but they're far from guaranteed a top four finish next season given there is now a Big 7.

So is it more about wanting to be the 'main man' at a 'big' London club with, as Herbie alludes to, £300k p/w in his pocket? He is undoubtedly one of the 'poor relations' in the England camp, so maybe he just wants to be at a Big 7 club.

alderz

IronHerb said:

Saka is reportedly on £300k including bonuses.

The two websites I looked at said his base salary is £195kpw. I never know if these offers that we hear about include bonuses or not tbh. Was the £200kpw offer to Rice a base salary or was it actually lower with some bonuses bringing it up?

Dodger58

Good article on BBC website on Arsenal v Manchester City as the destination for Declan: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65996802

alderz

I wish they’d throw in “stay at west ham” as an option for him

OldCastleSwift

According to Ex, City spoke with Rice and he made it clear to them that he wants to go to Arsenal. Subsequently, they haven't made a bid.

I suppose some might appreciate the honesty, but it would appear that he's made it a one horse race and made our negotiating position with Arsenal that bit weaker.

Hopefully Sullivan stands firm and says it's £100m or Rice stays. And I didn't think I'd say this, but I hope it's the former. To be hard over on a move to Arsenal and makes Rice's statements of love for West Ham feel a little disingenuous.

OldCastleSwift

In fact, this has actually made me respect Sullivan a little bit ( 😬 ). If Rice has made it as clear to Sullivan as he seems to have done with City that he wants to go to Arsenal, then I almost credit Sullivan for outing him.

All that faux humility and 'we'll see' nonsense after the ECL win. I bet he's been speaking to Arteta for months like some shameless home-wrecker.

IronHerb

I think that's absolute twaddle to tell the truth.

jay_in_cpt

Not sure Rice should ( if it's the case ) have the final say where he goes or who he'd prefer to sign for, unless they pay the asking price. IMO.

Ravel49

I don’t see why he’s set on Arsenal
I don’t Think they will compete with City next season. Liverpool will be back and United stronger with a full season of ten Hag under their belt.

claretandbluesky

I agree. You say to him this is our valuation that needs to be met if we are to reluctantly lose you to another club. You can choose whichever club you wish out of those that meet our valuation.

OldCastleSwift

IronHerb said:

I think that's absolute twaddle to tell the truth.

Which bit?

alderz

I don’t think it’s disingenuous for him to say “we’ll see”. It still remains to be seen if Arsenal will pay our price. If he’s decided that’s the only place he’ll go, then that doesn’t mean he has any issues with West Ham, IMO.

OldCastleSwift

I dunno. He's refused the contracts and I believe he's been talking to Arsenal for a while, via his dad if not directly.

I don't think there was ever any intention of staying, which Sullivan alluded to in his TalkSport interview, and if it's true that his camp have effectively put off City from bidding then it feels, to me at least, like they're trying to force the club's hand to accept Arsenal's bid or risk having an unhappy player in the camp.