West Ham skipper Declan Rice’s move to Arsenal has now been confirmed, making him the most expensive Englishman of all time.
The move, believed to consist of £100m paid up front, plus a further £5m in potential add-ons, means that Rice has overtaken Jack Grealish atop the transfer charts for Englishman, and makes him the second most expensive Premier League player of all time behind Enzo Fernandez, who Chelsea signed in January for £106m
The Hammers have already bidded farwell to their captain, explaining on social media that:
“West Ham United can confirm that agreement has been reached for Declan Rice to leave the Club for a British record transfer fee.
The 24-year-old England midfielder leaves the Hammers having made a total of 245 senior appearances for the Club – the last of which finished in glory last month as he lifted the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy in Prague to end our 43-year wait for a major honour.”
“I’d like to personally thank Declan for everything he has done during his time at West Ham United. Obviously it is sad when we say goodbye to someone who has been with us for so long but we must now look forward”, West Ham boss David Moyes added.
How the add-ons work
According to reports from early negotiations of the deal, Arsenal’s opening bids had included difficult to achieve add-ons such as winning the Premier League and winning the Champions League, which West Ham had viewed as ‘unrealistic’.
However, Sky Sports now report that they have agreed to a much more reasonable and likely package, which will see them net £1m for every year that Arsenal qualify for the Champions League (a feat that will become easier in theory when the Premier League are handed a fifth Champions League spot from 2024 under the new Champions League format.
The only caveat? Rice has to start 60% of the games in the Premier League that season, a total of 23. While easily attainable, few Arsenal fans would begrudge such a payment structure and the add-ons appear to be a win-win all round should Rice be able to stay fit.
