West Ham have agreed a deal to sell Declan Rice to Arsenal in a transfer that will make the midfielder the most expensive British footballer of all time.
Even given the extraordinary sums spent in modern football, the £105m fee will provide West Ham with a significant war-chest to attack the transfer market this summer.
Not all sides have improved after the sale of a high-profile star however, and as the Hammers plan how to spend their Rice windfall we’ve looked back at how other Premier League clubs re-invested after record sales.
Manchester United (2009)
Sold: Cristiano Ronaldo (£80m)
Bought: Antonio Valencia (£16m), Gabriel Obertan (£3m), Mame Diouf (£3.5m), Michael Owen (Free)
Manchester United fought to retain the services of Cristiano Ronaldo despite public interest from Real Madrid, but the forward’s inevitable move to the Spanish giants was completed in 2009 for a then-world record fee of £80m. Ronaldo has evolved into arguably world football’s finest talent across six seasons at Old Trafford, with his final three campaigns having delivered consecutive Premier League titles, the Champions League, back-to-back PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards and a maiden Ballon d’Or.
Sir Alex Ferguson opted to re-invest only a small percentage of Ronaldo’s record fee however, bringing in Antonio Valencia from Wigan and the experienced Michael Owen on a free transfer from relegated Newcastle, alongside prospects Gabriel Obertan and Mame...