How Arsenal star Declan Rice was on verge of joining Celtic in shock transfer before sliding doors moment
BRENDAN RODGERS has revealed Declan Rice came close to signing for Celtic.
The England international was subject to heavy transfer interest over the last few years with Chelsea, Manchester United and City all linked.
Eventually, Arsenal won the race last summer after prising Rice over to North London in a £105million deal.
But it could have been so different.
Because Celtic boss Rodgers revealed in his first spell with the club - which ran from 2016-2019 - Rice was set for a move to Scotland.
He said: “The club will do absolutely everything we can to support what we need and what the team needs.
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“There is lots of work going on in the background, and I’m pretty sure that in this early period of the month, we can have some joy and get one or two in.
"Ideally you’d want to get them in (early). Deals can be complicated and things that might have been there for three or four months can fall away.
"That’s always the challenge – it only takes one injury to a player who was lined up to come in.
“I remember when I was here the first time, we spent about three months looking for Declan Rice to come in.
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“Declan was all set to come in and then all of a sudden they (West Ham) had an injury, he stayed and got in the team and the rest is history.
"That’s not the club’s fault – it’s just the way it goes."
Rice made his senior West Ham debut in May of 2017 aged just 18.
The following season, he made 31 appearances and established himself as a regular in the first team squad.
Rice, 24, would later captain the Hammers and played 245 times, scoring 15 times.
He led West Ham to the Europa Conference League trophy before bowing out to join Arsenal.