Lopetegui may have already sold "incredible" Rice replacement at West Ham

West Ham made around £142m worth of sales in the 2023/24 season, which has since gone on to fund multiple big spending windows for the Hammers as they look to transform their identity to a more possession-based side and establish themselves in European places each season.

Of course, their biggest loss was Declan Rice, who joined Arsenal for around £100m in the summer 2023 window, after making 245 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals, providing 13 assists and totalling 20,580 minutes in his time at the club.

The departure of Rice is still causing issues for West Ham at present, with their midfield struggling to strike balance, firstly under Julen Lopetegui, but now also under new head coach, Graham Potter.

West Ham’s midfield issues since Rice’s departure

Since Rice left the club, West Ham have tried to replace him with multiple midfield signings, bringing Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse in during the 2023/24 season, before adding Guido Rodriguez and Carlos Soler in the 2024/25 season.

None of these signings have replaced the key attributes that Rice brought to the squad, with his raw athleticism, ability to cover ground and contest in duels, as well as carry the ball forwards when breaking from deep, getting West Ham up the pitch at speed.

Alvarez has proven to walk a disciplinary tightrope on too many occasions, Rodriguez has been more notable for similar and Ward-Prowse spent the first half of 2024/25 out on loan.

But, perhaps the best Rice replacement was right there all along, being sent out on loan during the 2023/24 season by West Ham, before being sold last summer, joining Southampton for a fee of around £18m.

West Ham may have sold a Rice replacement

Flynn Downes was sold after managing just 35 appearances for the West Ham first-team, with the majority of his time being spent out on loan after joining West Ham from Ipswich in 2022.

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Rice leaving in 2023 could have been the best time to fast-track Downes’s minutes, giving him a more important role in the team.

Many of the traits mentioned earlier which were lost with Rice, including an ability to progress play, athleticism to defend in transition and protect the defence, as well as mobility and an engine to get around the pitch and contribute to all phases, could have been addressed with Downes.

Since moving permanently, he has made 20 appearances for Southampton this season, scoring once, contributing to two clean sheets and totalling 1,536 minutes.

In his time at Swansea, Russell Martin (who signed Downes from West Ham for Southampton) described the English midfielder as “incredible“, praising his work-rate, athleticism, creative ability and his ability to enable others to perform their roles.

This isn’t to say he was the sole answer to replacing Rice, but given the circumstances, it would have been a good idea to implement Downes alongside a new signing, in order to provide the team with balance, not completely stripping the team of its central mobility.

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