James Murray

Mon 27 November 2023 16:10, UK

Ian Wright has admitted to feeling “guilty” following the sale of midfielder Declan Rice from West Ham to Arsenal over the summer.

Speaking on his Wrighty’s House podcast on Monday (27 November), the pundit said the 24-year-old is playing like a captain for the Gunners at the moment as his new side sit at the top of the Premier League.

The former Arsenal forward revealed that he told a couple of Hammers fans that the North Londoners “robbed” them after paying just £105million for the England international, adding that he is worth £20million more than that.

“That guy is captain, that guy is a captain in the way he’s playing,” said Wright. “And I’m not being biased or anything, but I was saying to a couple of West Ham fans at the Premier League, and I wind them up all the time.

“I said, ‘Do you know something, I feel like we robbed you, I feel like we should give you an extra £20million’. I’m going to give you an extra £20million because it’s making me, I feel guilty that we’ve only got him for £100million.”

Nonsense

Wright is speaking absolute nonsense here really because, for starters, the actual fee was £5million more than the £100million he is quoting.

West Ham were also more than happy to sell Rice for £105million, even though many people at the time didn’t think he was worth anywhere near that figure, Arsenal fans included.

It just feels a bit much to be mocking the Hammers in this instance because everyone at the club already knew how good he was and that the Gunners were getting a fantastic player for a decent chunk of change.

Has he gone up a level since making the move? Perhaps. But the likelihood is that more people are now just starting to realise how good he really is.

We got the money we wanted for our captain and Arsenal got the missing piece to their puzzle for a substantial amount of money – there were no losers in this situation.

In other West Ham news, the club are in the hunt to sign an “outstanding” Euro star.