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West Ham’s short transfer budget could cause Rice problems

By Adam Smith

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 12: Declan Rice of West Ham United celebrates scoring the winning goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Arsenal FC at London Stadium on January 12, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 12: Declan Rice of West Ham United celebrates scoring the winning goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Arsenal FC at London Stadium on January 12, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images) /
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Let’s play connect the dots between West Ham’s budding superstar midfielder, and the likelihood of him sticking around East London amidst elite European competition. Declan Rice’s future hangs in the balance as West Ham ponder a cut transfer budget. Not a good omen, is it?

Three teams have been linked to West Ham’s midfield rock Declan Rice: Manchester City, Manchester United, and now Real Madrid. Not bad, right?

Despite the connections, Rice looks locked in to stay at West Ham for the next season or two. The competition will pick up when he’s seasoned for another few years and when the likes of Fernandinho, Matic, and Casemiro edge closer to moves away from their respective clubs.

So, that makes West Ham the incubator for the next great English midfielder… again. We aren’t called the Academy of Football for nothing!

This brings us to what is becoming the uncomfortable reality with Rice for West Ham fans: it doesn’t seem like a matter of “if” but rather “when” he’ll leave. The mission must become focused around making Rice the centerpiece of a challenging team – the first step: the budget.

Rumors started swirling after the January window passed that West Ham’s transfer budget after their near-£100 million 2018 summer is going to be just £25m plus player sales. Have a read here for a solid recap and twitter reaction.

To be completely honest, it’s an unreasonable budget for a team that needs to be in Europa League next season and pushing for a top-4 finish, as well.

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Manuel Pellegrini and Mario Husillios did a terrific job finding low-cost gems like Fabian Balbuena and Lukasz Fabianski and spent well on big ticket players like Issa Diop and Felipe Anderson. That being said, Carlos Sanchez (who played well before injury) and Lucas Perez were both also bargain bin signings who haven’t made much of an impact on the team.

It’s an incredible amount of pressure to put on the manager and director of football to uncover gems, not miss on other players, and also build a squad that is going to get into European competition.

With player sales, the budget could rise to £60-£70m with big-ticket Marko Arnautovic grossing anything from £20-£40m. Mix in squad players and loaned out players being sold and it’s a solid budget, but not “next level”. If the base was £50m you would see less complaining, and it would allow for more serious talent to be introduced to the team.

Take emotions out of the equation; if you were a 20-year-old footballing star who was being pursued by the biggest clubs in world football, would you want to stay on a team that doesn’t want to risk investing in the next step forward?

Probably not, right?

It’s early in this whole transfer saga regarding Rice but prepare for constant pressure regarding the starlet. West Ham’s best defense against losing him too soon would be to ensure he is a successful, European-playing player while in East London. Rice would be leaving West Ham for the prestige of playing at the Real Madrid’s of the world, but he can also experience elite competition while at West Ham. Lack of investment shouldn’t be the reason Rice has to leave.