Declan Rice

[The Straw]

If Sullivan sells Rice, he will pocket the lot and do one.

How's he gonna do that then?

[Colours never run]

Absolutely zero guarantee he'd get the foothold in the game had we not seen something in him and gave him the Footballing education we did. He quite easily could have got disheartened and fallen by the way side like so many at that age do. We saved him from going down that route and actually gave him the platform and coaching to be 1 of the worlds best at what he does.

So yeah, he definitely owes us a hell of a lot of respect and I think that's more than evident by the way he holds the Club in high esteem and to date has done things the right way. It would be disingenuous to say that's not the case.

[Denzil]

If Sullivan sells Rice, he will pocket the lot and do one.

Rice is an asset of West Ham United, not David Sullivan. Sullivan is a major shareholder but that does not enable him to pocket the cash and sod off. That would be theft.

['stone hammer]

Absolutely zero guarantee he'd get the foothold in the game had we not seen something in him and gave him the Footballing education we did.

I'm sure there are many people at the club he would owe thanks to, I'm sure coaches and club staff go above and beyond for our players. There's no guarantee that he wouldn't have gone on to do the same elsewhere either.

We saved him from going down that route and actually gave him the platform and coaching to be 1 of the worlds best at what he does.

That feels disingenuous, because it implies that Rice did little to 'save himself from that route' as you say. No, Rice showed enough talent, mental fortitude, or both to show someone at West Ham that he was worth taking a punt on.

Interesting quote from https://www.planetsport.com/soccer/declan-rice

Dan Kemp, who played alongside Rice in Chelsea's academy, was quoted by Talksport as saying: "It was really upsetting, but also the massive thing was how much of a shock it was.

"None of us saw it coming. Even at that age, he was such a good player. It was such a massive shock to see him go because I never thought for one minute he'd be released.
"To this day, I couldn't really think of a reason why they would release him. I suppose they had their individual reasons, which we'll probably never, ever know.

Albie Beck said above that Rice had several options, not just West Ham. We didn't save him, we capitalised on Chelsea's mistake.

[upton o'good]

It’s interesting that Arsenal pursued Caicedo so heavily but didn’t appear to test us on Rice. Would suggest he’s given indications he’s not moving now, or that we’re not likely to play ball.

yeah, i wondered about that - there were rumours of interest and you'd think they would be prepared to pay a bit of a premium on top of the 70m to get an English player (and that we would say yes at £80-90m at least if we werent hovvering on the edge of relegation).

[upton o'good]

Rice has no more loyalty to West Ham United than he had to the Republic of Ireland.

He'll be gone in the summer, we just have to hope the money the club get for him is spent wisely.

no reason he should have felt loyalty to Ireland - he isnt Irish. Flag of connvenience.

[Morocco Mole]

Not next move he won't

He is like harry kane in the sense he is a real home bod. Loves his family, mates, where he grew up etc. He had a baby four months ago. As i understand it, he would rather not even move out of London if he can help it

Correct. Mummy’s boy and basically does what his parents advise (not a dig by the way). Not fussed where he goes personally but at least with Chelsea it means the fee gets topped up with Boehly Tax.

[Colours never run]

Amd if another Club did decide to take a punt on a released Academy player at the age of 14 and gave him the pathway to do what he's doing, then they too could have claimed of saving him. They didn't though and we did, which is why he owes us for believing in what we saw in him from a young age. There's also no guarantee he would have made it with us and work had to be done to refine his natural talent which we successfully done from the bottom of the Club to the top of the Senior Team. I'm just grateful West Ham did save him from possibly going down a different route, as so many others before and after him would have. Not every talented kid makes it, no matter how many might or might not get a look at that player and thankfully for both him and us, we recognised his ability, even though Chelsea ****ed him off and 1 who are supposed to be a Club close to his heart. He owes us everything for that belief when they clearly didn't.

[jastons]

If Arsenal want Rice, we should demand £80m plus Thomas Partey.

If West Ham signed Partey then he would get the jail. Probably.

[psychoscoredthelot]

No, I believe we took him on after running the rule over him and deciding there's enough raw talent to make him in to a quality player for both our sake and ultimately his. Not because we pitied him.

we also nearly released him too but for one youth coach saying he would make it to the very top

[ParkersHere]

It's modern day football, dog eat dog nobody owns anyone anything.
Rice has been superb for us and will make the club more money than anybody would have dreamed of.
When he goes in the summer I just hope the money is spent wisely. I hope he continues to improve and one day leads England to victory in a tournament

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Amd if another Club did decide to take a punt on a released Academy player at the age of 14 and gave him the pathway to do what he's doing, then they too could have claimed of saving him. They didn't though and we did, which is why he owes us for believing in what we saw in him from a young age. There's also no guarantee he would have made it with us and work had to be done to refine his natural talent which we successfully done from the bottom of the Club to the top of the Senior Team. I'm just grateful West Ham did save him from possibly going down a different route, as so many others before and after him would have. Not every talented kid makes it, no matter how many might or might not get a look at that player and thankfully for both him and us, we recognised his ability, even though Chelsea ****ed him off and 1 who are supposed to be a Club close to his heart. He owes us everything for that belief when they clearly didn't.

tbf he owes us nothing
he has provided 7 seasons of stellar performances, 100% commitment, a huge amount of positive PR and his sale will stick £80m in the clubs coffers (how that money is then used is not the fault of the player)

that seems enough payback to me!

[Colours never run]

tbf he owes us nothing
he has provided 7 seasons of stellar performances, 100% commitment, a huge amount of positive PR and his sale will stick £80m in the clubs coffers (how that money is then used is not the fault of the player)

that seems enough payback to me!

That's kind of what I'm getting at and I'm more than happy with that.

[Bubbles Fortuna]

He also had a trial lined up with Fulham I believe, we didn't save him, we just capitalised on the opportunity.

[Westbourne Bill]

Declan…making a lads day..

[DublinDave]

Declan…making a lads day

Whatever happens, he's done us proud...

[jastons]

Superb tonight.

[RaddyKovac]

Declan…making a lads day..

Please tell me he wasn't named after the Kray thug.

[smuts]

Absolutely superb tonight.

And he took a corner that unusually for West Ham didn't hit the first defender!

[Aztec Hammer]

Going to be a sad day when this guy is no longer a Hammer.

Special player.