Erik ten Hag was keen to sign Declan Rice for Manchester United prior to the midfielder’s move to Arsenal, according to the manager himself.
Declan Rice joined Arsenal from West Ham United in a club-record deal in 2023, but Erik ten Hag had been keen to bring the player to Manchester United a year earlier.
United had initially tried to sign Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, holding talks for several weeks. But when the player rejected them, ten Hag was keen for the club to try and sign Rice instead.
“The issue was that West Ham didn’t want to let him go,” ten Hag said. “I think we could have done more to test. We were on one page, they tried, but I don’t know how the process went. The point is, at United you need outstanding players.”
A year later, Rice had won the Europa Conference League with West Ham and completed his transfer to Arsenal.
In an additional blow to ten Hag, Rice then scored his first Arsenal goal to help give the Gunners a win over United at the Emirates Stadium. The game is perhaps equally famous for the offside goal by Alejandro Garnacho that ten Hag repeatedly referenced for the rest of the season.
Three years later, United could still do with Rice in their midfield, whilst the England international himself has become a Premier League winner in north London.
As the Arsenal fans in the stands often suggest, the deal to sign Rice has been well worth the money, to the extent that it feels like the club ‘got him half price’.
Whatever United’s hierarchy were willing to pay, they probably should have stretched their budget to whatever West Ham wanted. Before it was too late.
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