Declan Rice

[BobbyMooreLower]

Rice for England is better than Rice for West Ham. In the role he plays for England there is nobody else close to him in the country, in fact few if any in the world.

Not having this at all. His performances for West ham over the past 4 years have been miles ahead of the performances hes shown for England.

[E15Iron]

Dec is a world class midfielder, still developing too, his ability deserves to be playing and winning titles, Champions Leagues etc! That is not happening in the next 10 years at West Ham let's be honest. Even if we do somehow fluke a Champions League qualification, we aren't coming close to winning it! When he does go, will wish him nothing but the best.

[Doc H Ball]

Although we might accept it as a sad inevitability, I do hope there’s howls of outrage and recrimination when it does happen and that social media engulfs the boardroom like a tsunami.

None of them will feel the slightest shame trousering half a billion quid when they go, but with Declan sold around the same time I hope they are seen even more than now as the asset stripping c**** that they are. They all have dreadful reputations that will be made permanent.

[floydie_hammer]

The BBC was doing a live update on the press conference and although they didn't give the question word for word, it sounded like it was something along the lines of "Do you want to win trophies, do you want to test yourself at the highest level?".

Cheeky bit of bait by a journo, which leads to the obvious elite sportsperson's answer ("yeah, I do actually want to win things"), which can be spun as "Declan seeks Champions League bids" but could just as easily have meant "I love playing here at the World Cup and want to win it" or (slightly less plausibly) "I've seen my mates win European trophies, we got close to one last year at West Ham, and I want to win one this year."

I mean, he's off regardless, it's just a matter of time, but I don't think his answer was suggesting that in the way that people have interpreted it. He's not gonna be dropping transfer requests (direct or indirect) in the middle of a World Cup press conference.

Cheers. I agree I don't see him staying at west ham all his career but there's a big difference between the question being a. "do you want to play at the top level" and "are you hoping to have a new club in January" but clip didn't include that bit! Sounds like his answer wasn't really anything we didn't already know

[Oldun]

Rice has always open about what he wants to achieve and the club knew this .
The club and manager have failed to give him what he wants,a team that is challenging and in the champions league.
No one can ever condemn a person with ambition,depending on his choice of club I will wish him well.
I just hope for his sake he makes the right choice
I lay the blame for us losing at the feet of Moyes and the club,we had the chance to make Champions league 2 seasons running and completely blew it

[S-H]

Although we might accept it as a sad inevitability, I do hope there’s howls of outrage and recrimination when it does happen and that social media engulfs the boardroom like a tsunami.

If you can rely on social media for one thing, outrage is certainly it.

They will get pelters, not because Rice is sold, but because they will pocket the cash and skimp on his replacement.

[Simon_1982]

Irrespective of what question he was asked he should not be saying what he said. He is our club captain and should not be talking about his mates winning stuff etc etc
I would take the captaincy off him.

[floydie_hammer]

What's he allowed to say then?

"Do you want to win a world cup?"
Dec: "No thanks I'm used to playing at west ham"

[Danny's Dyer Acting]

Are we supposed to act like this is surprising or the first time he's said these things? Every single player in our squad will know what Rice wants to achieve in the next 10 years and, even more than us, know how capable he is of having that career.

Would be quite novel if we all got behind him and the team and then saved the ire for the board when they don't get the biggest fee for him and fail to spend the money well to replace him.

[BobbyMooreLower]

Rice has always open about what he wants to achieve and the club knew this .
The club and manager have failed to give him what he wants,a team that is challenging and in the champions league.
No one can ever condemn a person with ambition,depending on his choice of club I will wish him well.
I just hope for his sake he makes the right choice
I lay the blame for us losing at the feet of Moyes and the club,we had the chance to make Champions league 2 seasons running and completely blew it

Incredibly harsh to lay the blame on Moyes. After where we were under Pellegrini it was a miracle that we were even challenging for the top 4.

I actually think we'd of lost Dec sooner if it wasn't for Moyes

[NWhammer]

And playing champions league year in year out and being challengers to win it are completely unfeasible for us unless we get taken over by mega money

he doesn't mean getting in it once in a blue moon, which is realistically the best we (or any other club in our position) can hope for

if we had qualified for it last summer, he would be playing in it with us this season, but then would still want to move on

Ok, so he goes to man united. Are they guaranteed champions league football? they've struggled. Chelsea and Liverpool are also in the **** 15 and 16 points off the top.

There's no guarantee with football anymore, obviously your chances are massively increased of playing champions league football more often at the big 6 but to think you're guaranteed to win major European trophies at those clubs is naive these days.

Maybe I just see the current football landscape differently. If I was him, if it was all about trophies (lol) there's only one club I'm going to in this country and that's man city. The rest you're picking up a healthy pay packet with the off chance of European glory.

[hammerman11]

I cant see city going for him
chelsea are hit and miss
man utd rebuilding but looking good
arsenal wont bid for him
liverpool off the pace but he would start every game there

real madrid is possible but do they need him, same with barca

my bet is he ends up at manure or scouseville

[Oldun]

Incredibly harsh to lay the blame on Moyes. After where we were under Pellegrini it was a miracle that we were even challenging for the top 4.

I actually think we'd of lost Dec sooner if it wasn't for Moyes

What Moyes did is enough for most of our players and even supporters,for Rice it is not enough.
Two years running we blew good chances of finishing in Champions League position and this season we might get involved in a relegation fight, it’s definitely someone’s fault that we can’t match Rices ambitions.

[hammer1975]

I don’t think this changes anything - I suspect Dec’s view has been the same throughout (hence contract discussions for last few years).

The decision to sell him is the boards - and he’ll be off once a bid over £100m comes in….be that January or the summer. If someone had bid that already I personally think he’d have already gone.

He’ll go with my best wishes. He hasn’t achieved legend status if he leaves but I’ll still think of his West Ham time fondly.

I do wonder if our start to the season (and Chelsea risk of not finishing top four at mid season) has made a January departure possible.

[BobbyMooreLower]

What Moyes did is enough for most of our players and even supporters,for Rice it is not enough.
Two years running we blew good chances of finishing in Champions League position and this season we might get involved in a relegation fight, it’s definitely someone’s fault that we can’t match Rices ambitions.

Or rather than looking to blame someone, isn't it just a case that, historically, we are not a team who plays in the Champions League & battles for the title season in season out?

Unfortunately whenever we have a player the calibre of Declan, the big teams will come circling & to put it bluntly there is next to nothing we can do about it.

[TommyHammer]

Irrespective of what question he was asked he should not be saying what he said. He is our club captain and should not be talking about his mates winning stuff etc etc
I would take the captaincy off him.

It's the mates bit that I think is proper muggy. Yes, say you want to win stuff, everyone knows that anyway. But to basically say you go to England and think 'why am I at West Ham?' is annoying. It hardly inspires the rest of team hearing stuff like that as well.

This is why I don't buy the whole badge kissing he does now as well.

[Oldun]

Or rather than looking to blame someone, isn't it just a case that, historically, we are not a team who plays in the Champions League & battles for the title season in season out?

Unfortunately whenever we have a player the calibre of Declan, the big teams will come circling & to put it bluntly there is next to nothing we can do about it.

And there lies the problem,we are supposed to accept mediocrity and any star players have to be sold.
I have had to put up with that from the time we had 3 World Cup winners and was still average at best and we only kept Moore because there was no freedom of contract .
The club and manager has no ambition,stay in the premiership and sell our main assets,do we accept it ,well as supporters we don’t have much choice do we ,am I happy about it no.

[EastleighHammer16]

And there lies the problem,we are supposed to accept mediocrity and any star players have to be sold.
I have had to put up with that from the time we had 3 World Cup winners and was still average at best and we only kept Moore because there was no freedom of contract .
The club and manager has no ambition,stay in the premiership and sell our main assets,do we accept it ,well as supporters we don’t have much choice do we ,am I happy about it no.

We can’t compete with the “big 6” + now Newcastle on a consistent basis. We might finish above 1 or 2 of them on the odd occasion but not consistently. We don’t have the financial backing that these clubs have.

[Beavis Danzig]

Incredibly harsh to lay the blame on Moyes. After where we were under Pellegrini...

you mean basically where we are now?

[Wilko1304]

He's been honest and, with that, a little naive, basically. He's an honest and open lad, and it's a strength in his character, but it also leaves him open to the media and social media.

I refuse to believe he wants to leave West Ham, but he clearly will feel he needs to in order to match his career ambitions. Which is fine, and I am sure it's gutting to him that that's the case, too. I bet he'd rather win the league with us than City, Liverpool or anyone else, but it is what it is.