Brendan Rodgers details why Celtic failed to sign Declan Rice from West Ham United, deal was in place
Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Celtic had a deal in place to sign Declan Rice from West Ham before it eventually fell through.
Speaking to Clyde 1 Superscoreboard about the difficulties over the transfer market on Thursday (4 January), the Hoops manager admitted that the Scottish club spent three months trying to bring the 24-year-old in during his first spell at Parkhead.
But he said the Irons then suffered an injury that handed the England international a chance in the side and that meant the deal didn’t go through, with the midfielder then going on to captain the East Londoners before signing for Arsenal for £105million last summer.
“Deals can be complicated and things can fall away that might have been there for three or four months, that’s the challenge,” said Rodgers.
“It only takes one injury from a player that’s lined up to come in. I remember when I was here the first time, we spent three months looking for Declan Rice to come in.
“Declan was all set to come in and, all of a sudden they had an injury and he stayed, got in the team and the rest is history. That’s not the club’s fault, that’s just the way it goes.”
What could have been
It’s frightening to think where West Ham would have been without Rice over the past few years if he had made the move to Celtic before getting his chance at the London Stadium.
He was, without a doubt, an instrumental figure in the success the club has achieved since making his debut in the side under Slaven Bilic back in 2015.
But before that day came, a move to Glasgow probably would’ve been appealing to the midfielder due to his Irish links and he was probably promised more first-team opportunities.
It’s unknown how things would’ve panned out for him had he made the move north of the border as he may not have gone on to become the player he has and there’s a very good chance he wouldn’t be playing for England now.
Fortunately for us, though, that isn’t how things turned out as he stayed in East London and helped lead us to the Europa Conference League victory last season before earning the club £105million following his move to Arsenal.
In other West Ham news, one player wants to leave the Hammers amid a £30million development.