West Ham chairman David Sullivan has confirmed captain Declan Rice will be sold during the summer transfer window, just hours after the club ended their decades-long trophy drought.
The England midfielder became only the third Hammers skipper to lift silverware after a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final.
However, Sullivan admitted a gentleman’s agreement means they will allow the 24-year-old, who has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal, to leave.
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Asked whether lifting the trophy in Prague was Rice’s last action as a West Ham player, Sullivan told Talksport: “I think it has to be. We promised him he could go.
“He set his heart on going and in due course he has to get on and we have to get a replacement.
“It is not something we wanted to happen. We offered him £200,000 ($249,000) a week 18 months ago and he turned it down. You can’t keep a player who doesn’t want to be there.
“I think the offers will start to come today. Three or four clubs have shown interest but out of respect to West Ham, while we’re still playing, you don’t make offers for players.” West Ham’s win in Prague ended a 43-year wait to win a major trophy. “I’m still in shock,” Rice said in the afterglow of the win. “It’s incredible. I love this club, they’ve made me one of their own.
“There is interest from other clubs. Let’s wait and see. Who knows?”
LIVERPOOL LOCK IN WORLD CUP WINNER TO SOFTEN BELLINGHAM BLOW
Elsewhere, Liverpool signed Argentine World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton on Friday [AEST] for a fee that could rise to a reported £55 million ($A103m).
The 24-year-old is the first piece in a midfield rebuild for Liverpool, who finished a disappointing fifth in the Premier League.
“It feels amazing,” said Mac Allister, who is understood to have signed a five-year deal at Anfield.
“It’s a dream come true. It’s amazing to be here and I can’t wait to get started.
“I wanted to be in from the first day of pre-season, so it’s good that everything is done. I’m looking forward to meeting my teammates.
“It was a fantastic year for me — World Cup, what we achieved with Brighton — but now it’s time to think about Liverpool and try to be a better player and a better human being every day.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is seeking to bolster his midfield options after the departures of James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The club were priced out of a move for England teenage star Jude Bellingham, who is set to join Real Madrid after the clubs agreed a fee of 103 million euros ($A166m).
Liverpool, who struggled last term after nearly completing an unprecedented quadruple in 2021/22, have been criticised for failing to reinforce their ageing midfield over recent transfer windows.
Klopp is excited about the arrival of Mac Allister, who reportedly cost an initial fee of £35 million ($A56m).
Mac Allister will wear the number 10 shirt worn with distinction by past Liverpool stars Sadio Mane, John Barnes and Michael Owen.
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“We are adding a very talented, very smart, very technically skilled boy to our squad and this is super news, really it is,” said the German.
“I do not think the football world needs me to say too much about Alexis’s qualities because they are already pretty well known.
“But it is clear that he is someone who can play in a number of positions in the midfield and is an all-rounder, I would say. He is calm and composed and someone with proper game intelligence.”
Mac Allister, who made 112 appearances for Brighton, has played 16 times for Argentina, including in the World Cup final victory against France in December.
“Since I won the World Cup, I said that I want to win more trophies and I think that this club will help me to do that,” he said.
“That’s the aim and when you are in a big club like this one you have to win trophies. So, that’s what I want.”