FEATURE: THE THREE BIGGEST SALES IN WEST HAM'S HISTORY

Photo credit: Rex

With the 2023 summer transfer window already in full swing, one of the names already dominating the headlines is Declan Rice.

The imperious midfielder looks set to soon be calling time on his nine-year association with West Ham United as Manchester City and Arsenal prepare to battle it out for the 24-year-old’s signature.

While his final destination remains unknown as of yet, one thing for certain is that it will easily be the most amount of money the Hammers have ever received for a player, which should serve as a small consolation to supporters when they bid farewell to their captain who has just led them to a first European trophy in 58 years.

But while Rice remains officially registered to the East London outfit, let’s take a look at the club’s three biggest sales in their history.

3. Marko Arnautovic (Shanghai Port, July 2019 - £21.5m*)

Photo credit: Christopher Lee - Getty Images

Marko Arnautovic served as something of a talisman in his two years at the London Stadium. 

Signed for a then club record fee of £19m from Stoke City in July 2017, he led the line for two relatively mediocre campaigns for West Ham, in which they finished 13^th and 10^th respectively.

He was the club’s top scorer for both of those seasons, each time with 11 goals and was named as Hammer of the Year at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.

The Austrian announced he wanted to leave in the summer of 2019 and was granted his wish when Chinese club Shanghai Port (then called Shanghai SIPG) came in with a £21.5m offer.

Alfie Mulligan, Sports Journalism student at the University of Salford and West Ham supporter, said: “The Arnautovic deal stung. He was a player that was scoring goals, having fun up front and keeping our side afloat and him opting for a money move was really upsetting.

“In hindsight we had the luck that [Michail] Antonio would become the man for us at top. But at the time it was a tough pill to swallow.”

Arnautovic spent two years in Asia before returning to Europe with Italian club Bologna where he continues to bang in the goals on a regular basis.

2. Rio Ferdinand (Leeds United, November 2000 - £22.3m)**

Photo credit: Tony O'Brien

Rio Ferdinand remains one of the greatest success stories of West Ham’s famed academy.

He joined the club as a teenager in 1992 and broke into the first team four years later. He was voted Hammer of the Year by supporters in 1998, aged just 19 and had been a first-team regular at Upton Park for over three years when Leeds United came calling in 2000.

The £22.3m acquisition of Ferdinand by the West Yorkshire outfit broke the British transfer record as well and made him the world’s most expensive defender. It was the most high-profile signing of Peter Ridsdale’s ambitious free-spending reign as chairman and the centre-back immediately became an integral part in Leeds’ eventually unsuccessful quest for domestic and European glory.

Ferdinand was already captain by the time the club were forced to sell him to bitter rivals Manchester United for £39.5m in 2002 and he would go on to spend 12 years at Old Trafford, making 455 appearances and winning six league titles and one Champions League as well as earning 81 caps for England.

1. Dimitri Payet (Marseille, January 2017 - £25m)

Photo credit: Clive Rose - Getty Images

Dimitri Payet only spent 18 months with the Irons but that was more than enough time for him to firmly cement his place in club folklore.

The French playmaker was signed from Marseille in the summer of 2015 for just £12.9m and was the star man in a dramatic final season at the Boleyn Ground in which the Hammers finished seventh – their highest Premier League finish in 14 years.

Payet immediately won the adoration of the West Ham supporters who would often sing ‘We’ve got Payet’. In his only full campaign in East London, he chimed in with 12 goals and 15 assists in 38 appearances, earning him the Hammer of the Year award as well as a place on the shortlist for the PFA Player’s Player of the Year.

He began his second season in similar vein, scoring three and assisting eight, which even saw him finish joint-17^th in the Ballon D’Or rankings for 2016, before he returned to Marseille in acrimonious fashion after refusing to play for West Ham again.

At the age of 36, the Frenchman remains a Marseille player after re-joining them six-and-a-half years ago for £25m – a club record fee received by a player for the Irons.

“Payet was one of the first player I genuinely had pure joy watching every week,” said Alfie.

“Having seen the man nominated for Ballon D’or at West Ham, it genuinely felt that he was going to take us to the next level.

“Even to this day I still think: What if? He was a once in a lifetime player that sadly got stuck in the middle of our frustrations. And I don’t think we have seen a player with that much quality since Rice.

“He will forever be a club icon for what he did in the last season at the Boleyn, he will forever. Not bad for an 18-month stint.”

* All transfer fees listed in this article are according to transfermarkt.co.uk.

** On transfermarkt.co.uk, Carlos Tevez is officially listed as the club’s second-most expensive departure. However, due to the uncertainty over whether or not he was officially owned by the club when he joined Man City, as well as over the actual fee the Citizens paid, the Argentinian has been left off this list.