National tabloid The Sun has today been forced to issue an apology to West Ham United over false claims made in a story about Declan Rice.
The Telegraph ran an exclusive this week claiming Rice has turned down two offers of new contracts from West Ham.
And the Hammers midfielder – currently starring for England at Euro 2020 – has reportedly asked the club to keep him informed of any bids.
That has – inevitably – sparked increased speculation Rice will leave West Ham with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool linked.
Rice contract story sparks fresh speculation and misinformation
But unsubstantiated rumours abound on social media that the contract offers made to Rice by West Ham’s owners David Sullivan and David Gold did not meet the player’s expectations.
Indeed The Sun claimed West Ham’s offers would not have even made him the club’s highest earner beyond £115,000 per week Andriy Yarmolenko.
The Sun says sorry to Sullivan and Gold over ‘inaccurate’ Rice contract story
Given West Ham fans do not need much of an excuse to turn on Sullivan and Gold, the story caused uproar among supporters.
But The Sun has now issued an apology in print in which it conceded the information in its article about West Ham’s contract offers to Rice was ‘inaccurate’.
“Within an article we published online on 1 July and in our newspaper on 2 July, we carried inaccurate information about the offers of a new contract made to Declan Rice and the comparison to Andriy Yarmolenko,” The Sun states in its apology.
‘We apologise for this’
“We have updated our online article and apologise for this.”
They say don’t always believe what you read in the papers.
And it seems in this case that is – unlike the article – very accurate.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
