Karren Brady shares why West Ham United were forced to sell Declan Rice to Arsenal
Karren Brady has shared why West Ham were forced to sell Declan Rice following his big-money move to Arsenal during the transfer window.
Speaking on talkSPORT on 3 September, the Hammers’ vice-chairman revealed that the club “tried everything” to try and keep hold of the England international.
But she conceded that the 24-year-old wanted to leave the London Stadium this summer and it became her “job to sell him” as the midfielder made his £105million switch to the Gunners back in July.
“My job was to sell him,” said Brady. “We did not want to sell him, he made a decision that he wanted to go. Having made that decision, my job was to get the best possible price for him, so the club could go back in again and make every penny of that count and I think that’s exactly what we did.
“It’s very difficult when a player doesn’t want to stay, I mean we tried everything we could to convince him to stay. In terms of the contract, we had been speaking to his father for about two years.
“We tried to build a team around him, he’s a special player and a gentleman, a very nice young man to have around and a great captain.”
Impossible task
It seemed as though it was always going to be a pretty impossible task to keep Rice at West Ham for much longer than he did eventually stay.
In all honesty, he could have tried to push through a move earlier than he eventually ended up leaving given the interest in him over the past few years, but he remained loyal to the club.
The former captain probably wanted to help the Hammers actually win something and cement his legacy as one of the finest players to represent the club – and he did exactly that with the Europa Conference League victory last season.
The fee the Irons’ hierarchy managed to get for him was a great piece of business and they have done an excellent job of rebuilding the midfield, while also making a couple of other additions to the squad.
Everyone would’ve liked to have kept Rice for at least a little while longer, but given the start to the season we have experienced, the future still looks bright without him.
In other West Ham news, Gary Lineker shared his verdict on the club’s impressive start to the season.