Declan Rice injury. It was the sentence that spread around West Ham Twitter like wildfire last night.
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Unfortunately for the Hammers fans, that rumour has proven to be spot on.
It was first confirmed by The Telegraph’s Matt Law around midday.
Well renowned West Ham insider ExWHUemployee then substantiated that claim.
The news is obviously a huge blow for David Moyes and the Hammers players.
It was always going to happen though. Anyone could have predicted in January that one of our key players would suffer a serious injury between then and the end of the season.
Would it be Declan Rice? Tomas Soucek? Michail Antonio?
Unfortunately, it ended up happening to our best player.
Declan Rice injury lays bare poor planning from GSB
The fact that GSB failed to bolster our central midfield ranks in January now looks like an incredibly negligent decision.
David Sullivan and David Gold should have backed Moyes in the January transfer market. There were plenty of options out there. Even if it meant bringing in someone on a short-term deal.
To head into the second half of the season with just three senior central midfielders and one of them being Mark Noble was a truly kamikaze move.
And that shambolic decision has now come home to roost.
Hopefully Moyes finds a way of setting up his team without Rice that works. It will be hard but not impossible.
The Scot has to bolster his options at the London Stadium this summer. Our need for at least one new centre-forward has been well-documented.
It could be argued that West Ham need a top-class, dynamic central midfielder just as badly, however.
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