Declan Rice took his game to another level with Arsenal last night and it has many wondering whether his old club West Ham might benefit.
- Hammers News exclusive
Many scoffed at David Moyes when he reiterated this week that West Ham should have demanded another £50m from Arsenal for Declan Rice.
“l used to get criticised when I said that he should be £150 million,” Moyes said of his former Hammers captain before Everton’s draw with Arsenal.
“When I see Arsenal supporters I tell them they still owe me £50 million because we only got £100m for him. I think that he’s proven exactly what we thought he was.”
Rice takes his game to another level in Arsenal win
Many Arsenal fans, some of whom have taken great delight in goading their West Ham counterparts ever since signing their homegrown skipper for over £100m, actually think they got an even better deal than Moyes alludes to.
Arsenal fans have – gallingly for West Ham – christened the midfielder ‘half price Rice’ in the belief they did indeed massively underpay for the 26-year-old.
Some Gunners supporters have been highly critical of Rice this season too, though.
Especially after he had another stinker against West Ham in the recent 1-0 defeat to Graham Potter’s side at the Emirates, being hooked after just 53 minutes.
Rice proved a few of his own fans wrong – and many of his old West Ham supporters right – with a virtuoso display in Arsenal’s shock 3-0 win over Real Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday night.
The Hammers Academy graduate scored two of the best free-kicks you will see to put Arsenal in a commanding position to make the semi-finals.
It gives Arsenal new hope of ending the season with the major silverware Rice left West Ham in search of.
That’s after the Hammers played their part in ending any chance of Rice winning the Premier League this season.
West Ham owners confirm Rice clause after Champions League heroics
Meanwhile over in east London, West Ham’s owners and their new manager are facing a huge summer transfer window in which the club’s midfield needs to be completely ripped up after a disastrous 16 months.
It has become abundantly clear the Irons have failed miserably to replace Rice.
The club swapped out a pacy, athletic and dynamic box-to-box midfield powerhouse for a collection of slow, ageing, immobile players who don’t complement one another, offer little protection to the backline and nothing by way of guile up the other end.
West Ham’s overhaul won’t come cheap.
And money is an issue this summer as the Hammers confirmed their grave PSR situation this week.
Having lost the extra revenue from European football, West Ham are desperate for any extra cash right now.
So Arsenal’s now realistic hope of winning the Champions League will have Hammers fans hoping they might be due even more money for Rice, two years after selling him.
Now the West Ham owners have confirmed a ‘half-price’ Rice clause after Arsenal’s Champions League heroics.
The top spokesman for West Ham’s owners has clarified the situation regarding money owed to them by Arsenal for Rice.
The good news for West Ham is that there is indeed a Champions League clause in the deal.
Will West Ham get extra money for Rice if Arsenal win the Champions League?
However, the bad news is that the Hammers either did not have the foresight or could not negotiate in any bumper extra payments based on Arsenal winning Europe’s top competition.
Instead, West Ham are guaranteed Champions League payments over a set period.
“No we are not due any extra money from Arsenal if they win the Champions League,” the senior spokesman for West Ham’s board told Hammers News.
“We only get £1m each time they qualify for the Champions League – and a maximum of five times.
“The deal was was £100m plus five £1m Champions League qualifications add-on payments.”
Half price Rice indeed.
That should remove the jeopardy for those West Ham fans who may not be able to bear seeing Rice lift the Champions League with Arsenal.
Because the Hammers gain nothing from it by way of much-needed extra income.
After the win over Real Madrid, Rice has declared what meant more – Arsenal’s magical night or West Ham’s trophy triumph.
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