Former West Ham and Arsenal striker Ian Wright believes the Hammers should have got more than £105m for Declan Rice.

Ex-manager David Moyes has made it clear on more than one occasion that the club should have stuck to their £150m valuation and Wright claims that Rice’s performances suggest that it was a mistake to sell the player for such a low fee:

“I remember David Moyes saying ‘[West Ham] haven’t got enough for him’. I remember him saying that he wanted £150m for him.”

“I know now we can all say David Moyes was right, but since Declan’s been at Arsenal, he’s made that fee look embarrassing.”

Wright’s words are rather harsh

While Rice has been performing well recently, it must be pointed out that until his brace against Real Madrid, he had struggled to match the displays of his first season at the Emirates.

In that context, you can’t say a nine-figure fee is bad business. You could argue that West Ham might have held out for a bit more but that may only have happened if Rice was also willing to move to Manchester City.

The then Premier League champions were also interested in the England international, but after making one tentative bid, they withdrew from the race after it became clear that the player wanted to join Arsenal.

West Ham can point to Caicedo’s fee

Another important fact is that, in the same summer, Chelsea broke the British transfer record to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton with the Blues securing the Ecuadorian’s signature for £115m.

That is only £10m more than what Rice was sold for, despite there being competition from Liverpool. For that reason, you can’t say that West Ham made a massive mistake in selling their midfielder for the price they did.

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