West Ham have reportedly prepared a move for an Arsenal flop who has effectively had his Gunners career ended by Declan Rice, in a twist dripping with bitter irony.
Arsenal paid West Ham £105m for Declan Rice, their homegrown captain and generational talent.
Rice has continued with the Gunners as he left off for the Hammers, emerging as their best all-round player.
West Ham fans are realistic about their place in the football food chain.
But after the sale of Mohammed Kudus to another London rival in Spurs, Hammers supporters are fuming that they were lured from Upton Park to the London Stadium on the promise of competing with the Premier League’s top clubs only to end up selling their best players to them.
It was always going to be difficult for West Ham to replace a generational talent like Rice.
West Ham failed miserably to replace Rice
The east Londoners have made a complete mess of that, though, ending up with an ageing, immobile midfield lacking in any pace, power or athleticism.
Two years on, Graham Potter is paying for that failure and it is his problem to fix while Arsenal fans goad West Ham, calling their former midfielder half-price Rice in a nod to the belief they underpaid for the England man.
The midfield trio Potter started in the pre-season defeat to Man United sums up West Ham’s problems.
While Tomas Soucek is one of West Ham’s most consistent and reliable performers, he is not helped being surrounded by players painfully lacking in any dynamism like James Ward-Prowse and Guido Rodriguez.
Even Edson Alvarez has struggled badly to cope with the pace and power of the Premier League, falling out of favour with David Moyes, Julen Lopetegui and Potter.
The Mexican and Rodriguez have been told they can leave should suitable offers arrive.
West Ham have some promising central midfielders coming through into the first team setup.
But Potter is on the hunt for new additions in that position too.
Hammers fans expecting a major upgrade in midfield may be left disappointed, though.
Because West Ham could end up with an Arsenal cast-off in a surprising transfer twist.
Bitter irony as West Ham move for Arsenal flop Rice replaced
In what could be the first of several central midfield signings, the Hammers have prepared a bid for Gunners flop Fabio Vieira.
That’s according to journalist Ben Jacobs.
The GiveMeSport and talkSPORT reporter says Vieira is on West Ham’s list and they are preparing to contact Arsenal about a move.
Jacobs claims it will be the first of West Ham’s bids to sign ‘multiple midfielders’ in what remains of the summer transfer window.
Hammers want Vieira as one of ‘multiple’ midfielder moves
A move for the 25-year-old Portuguese midfielder will be hugely underwhelming for West Ham fans.
Vieira proved far too physically weak for the Premier League in his first season with the Gunners.
And while he is a different profile of midfielder to Rice, his abject failure in the English top flight was a big reason behind Mikel Arteta’s big money move for the Hammers captain two years ago.
Vieira was bombed out back on loan to former club Porto last season where he scored five goals and laid on six assists in 42 appearances.
Technically Vieira would undoubtedly be a big improvement on some of West Ham’s current midfield options.
But most Hammers fans feel the club is in desperate need of a strong, physically imposing box-to-box midfielder.
Vieira most certainly is not that player.
So Hammers supporters can only hope the other midfielder moves Jacobs refers to address that problem if Vieira really is on his way to the London Stadium.
Arsenal paid nearly £30m for Vieira but would struggle to command even half that from West Ham.
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