West Ham United sensation Declan Rice has revealed to the Evening Standard that the squad held clear the air talks ahead of Monday’s clash with Liverpool, so that the speculation over Marko Arnautovic’s future did not distract the team any further.
Arnautovic spent part of January away from the starting XI after rumours linking the Austrian with a move out of East London emerged.
The saga, unfortunately, saw results on the field drop massively, and the Hammers could not repeat their dramatic win over Arsenal when they came up against Bournemouth, AFC Wimbledon or Wolverhampton Wanderers.
To prevent the bad atmosphere inside the club from continuing, Rice has revealed the squad held clear the air talks during a dressing room inquest, following the Molineux defeat.
“After that January we had, where we lost a load of games, we had a meeting and said, ‘Look boys, we all need to pull our fingers out’, because it was not West Ham and not the results we want,” Rice stated.
“Wimbledon wanted it more than us [in the FA Cup] and they won, the same with Bournemouth and the same with Wolves. Last night, I think we wanted it more than Liverpool. We were fighting for everything and came out with a point.
“Liverpool are frustrated but we were unlucky not to come away with three points because we had some chances.”
The 20-year-old went on to add “the lads love Marko” and “can’t wait for him to be back”, as Arnautovic is currently sidelined through injury.
