Vladimir Coufal has now claimed he ‘loves’ the way West Ham United now play after selling Declan Rice to Arsenal as the transfer forced David Moyes to change his plans.
The Gunners broke the bank to make Rice an Arsenal player in a club-record transfer back in July. Stan Kroenke, Arsenal’s owner, signed off on an initial £100m, plus £5m in add-ons, fee for the midfielder. It shattered the north Londoners’ previous record spent for Nicolas Pepe.
Arsenal had to go big with their bid as Rice left east London as West Ham’s captain. He also led the London Stadium team to the Europa Conference League title and lifted the trophy in his last act. It brought the curtain down on Rice’s 245-game senior career in claret-and-blue.
Arsenal took West Ham’s talisman with Rice’s transfer
Slaven Bilic brought Rice through from the Hammers’ academy for his first-team debut back in May 2017. The following six years saw the ex-Chelsea prospect become one of the Irons’ most important players. He also developed into one of Europe’s best defensive midfielders.
Rice became the conductor of West Ham’s system under Moyes, regularly pulling the strings and shielding their backline brilliantly. But he is now doing so under Mikel Arteta for Arsenal with Rice already an instrumental part of the Spaniard’s plans at Emirates Stadium this term.
Arteta has cemented Rice as the foundation of Arsenal’s engine room and watched in joy as he spreads play. The 45-cap England international even scored his first Gunners goal to give them the lead in stoppage-time against Manchester United to send the Emirates crowd wild.
Coufal ‘loves’ how Moyes rebuilt West Ham without Rice
West Ham, meanwhile, invested the funds from Rice’s transfer to Arsenal to revamp Moyes’ squad. The Hammers signed Edson Alvarez for up to £35.5m and Mohammed Kudus for up to £38m from AFC Ajax. While James Ward-Prowse left Southampton for the Irons for £30m.
Coufal believes Moyes had to diversify the funds with several signings given everything that Rice gave West Ham. But the right-back also feels Moyes having to share responsibilities at London Stadium without the England anchor has made the Hammers a better team overall.
“I love our signings,” Coufal stated, via quotes by the Mirror. “We knew what to expect from James Ward-Prowse but I didn’t expect what he has done so far. He has two goals and three assists – it’s absolutely amazing. I didn’t see him score so much at Southampton.
“And Kudus is a gifted player who has almost everything: power, strength, technique [and] skill. I don’t know his main position. We had to split responsibilities to every player because Dec took responsibility for everything. I love the way we play now.”
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