Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal in the summer of 2023 was one of the biggest deals of the window. Arsenal acquired Rice, a talented defensive midfielder, to bolster their midfield
His presence has provided stability and defensive cover while also potentially freeing up their attacking players to focus more on scoring goals.
Additionally, his versatility and leadership qualities has significantly benefit Arsenal’s squad, potentially making him a key player in their quest for success.
Declan Rice is excelling at Arsenal as they challenge Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League title race. However, David Moyes now acknowledges that he regrets not selling the £105 million player for an even higher fee when he was at West Ham.
Moyes claims Rice cost £150m
David Moyes has conceded for the first time that West Ham is feeling the absence of Declan Rice and is concerned that they may have let him go for a bargain price.
The Hammers have gone 10 games without a clean sheet, with their latest setback occurring in the final 10 minutes of their match against Freiburg on Thursday night.
Despite facing jeers and taunts when he returned to the Taxpayers Stadium with Arsenal this season, the £105 million England midfielder showcased his crucial defensive abilities, according to Hammers boss Moyes.
Now, Moyes wishes the Eastenders had held out for £150 million last summer because Rice has proven to be a more polished player than others who have commanded nine-figure transfer fees.
According to the Mirror, The Hammers’ last shut-out was against Brighton on January 2, and Moyes – who had always prided himself on building teams with a strong defensive core – admitted: “It’s not nice. We work hard to make sure we’re defensively sound and I genuinely believe there’s no successful team that hasn’t got the best defence.
“Having that normally gives you a good chance of getting a result somewhere. At the moment we’re not as strong as we should be in some areas.
“We’ve hugely missed Declan Rice. I think Declan covered up a lot of things, was able to tidy things up and help us. He’s probably the best player in England at the moment, I would say.
“If you lose the best player in England out of your team, you’re going to be affected one way or the other – it doesn’t matter how good your signings have been and how well they’ve done. And by the way, a lot of things get talked about how much money we spend, but nobody talks about how much money we’ve taken in as well.
“Brighton have taken a lot of money in, but I think we’re probably right up there with the biggest ones that take money in as well.
“I always said, and I think everyone laughed, that Dec should have been £150million. Other players have been sold for close to that price and I don’t think they’ve touched Declan’s level of performance. The other thing is Declan is English, an England international, and he’s 25 now so he’s still got another six or seven years of his best years still to come.
“So I think in time maybe we’ll look back and think it could have been more. But let’s be fair, I think most people – including the media, everybody – would have said it was a really good price for Declan at the time.”
