By George Overhill

8th May, 2023 | 10:30am

West Ham United: Fabrizio Romano destroys fan on Twitter amid Declan Rice accusation after Manchester United win

Fabrizio Romano shot down a commenter on Twitter who accused him of doing paid PR for Declan Rice after raving about the West Ham skipper.

After the Hammers beat Manchester United 1-0 at the London Stadium on Sunday (7 May) the renowned transfer reporter hailed the England star as “simply fantastic”, both for his performance in the game and his connection with the supporters.

But with the 24-year-old heavily expected to make a big-money move away from the club this summer Romano reacted sarcastically when accused of promoting Rice for his own gain.

Reacting to a video of the West Ham skipper with a young fan the Italian had written on Twitter: “Declan Rice is simply fantastic. On and off the pitch. What a player, what a guy.”

Then, after being accused of being paid to produce PR for the midfielder to push a summer move Romano responded sarcastically: “Yes bro, for sure he needs my PR — he’s bad football player and had a very bad match vs United… so my PR with video on him giving the shirt to that kid is what he needed to be sold in the summer.

“Now I’ll let you go back and look at the sky at night looking for UFOs.”

Cutting

There might be an argument that a relative unknown could benefit from promotion by Romano, but a player with the profile of Rice clearly isn’t going to have his market affected either way.

It will be a painful one for Irons fans to see him go, not least because of how he interacts with fans as in the video, but it seems the time is almost here.

His excellent game in victory over Erik ten Hag’s side is exactly the way that supporters would prefer to see him depart if he is to go, and with Premier League safety virtually wrapped up at long last attention will soon turn to a possible trophy as his parting gift.

Seeing Rice lift the Europa Conference League would be a fitting send off even if this campaign has proven to be largely dismal.

Last season’s near-misses, the summer transfer haul, and the major regression this year together form a missed opportunity to kick on and potentially keep the club captain around for the long haul.

But with many millions due to be on offer at the end of the season from a host of clubs looking for a midfielder of just his stature he is likely to go.

So all there is to do is to ensure he goes on a high for as much money as possible.