{"id":84103,"date":"2023-07-15T10:35:36","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T10:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/07\/15\/west-ham-confirm-captains-departure\/"},"modified":"2023-07-15T10:35:36","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T10:35:36","slug":"west-ham-confirm-captains-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/07\/15\/west-ham-confirm-captains-departure\/","title":{"rendered":"West Ham confirm captain’s departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"As
As West Ham manager David Moyes prepares for a season without Declan Rice, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta remains tight-lipped on the midfielder’s potential signing
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

West Ham have confirmed that they have reached an agreement for Declan Rice to leave the club.<\/p>\n

West Ham signed the deal to sell their captain to Arsenal after finally receiving paperwork from the Gunners on Friday.<\/p>\n

The transfer was agreed eight days ago and the Hammers were becoming increasingly frustrated by the delay to complete the deal.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One insider told\u00a0Sky Sports News<\/em>: \u201cI\u2019ve never known anything like this saga\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, West Ham have now signed the deal to sell Rice to Arsenal, who are set to announce their club-record signing before heading to the US for a pre-season tour on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The hold-up was being caused by delays with the paperwork being drawn up by Arsenal\u2019s lawyers.<\/p>\n

As far as West Ham were aware, Rice had passed his Gunners medical and had been training regularly while on holiday in Portugal.<\/p>\n

The deal is broken down into an initial payment of \u00a3100m with \u00a35m in add-ons and will eclipse Arsenal\u2019s previous record purchase, which is currently Nicolas Pepe from Lille for \u00a372m in 2019.<\/p>\n

Rice\u2019s signing will be just short of the British transfer record, which was set by Chelsea when they paid Benfica \u00a3106.8m for Enzo Fernandez in January.<\/p>\n

Arsenal did conclude the \u00a338m signing of Jurrien Timber, who has signed a five-year contract, on Friday.<\/p>\n

The Gunners have paid Ajax \u00a334m up front for Timber, with the remainder of the fee made up in performance-related add-ons.<\/p>\n

Timber has been signed as a right-back \u2013 a role that was predominantly fulfilled by Ben White last season \u2013 but can also play at centre-back, and has previously attracted interest from Manchester United.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n