Check in to Chelsea vs West Ham United
West Ham United loost set to miss out on Shakhtar Donetsk’s Romanian international full back, Razvan Rat, TalkSport understands.
Hammers boss Sam Allardyce had been interested in the player in January and was reportedly close to agreeing a deal only for it to go cold at the last minute. However, any chance of the deal being back on now looks dead in the water with Marseille said to be thrashing out an agreement to bring him to the south of France for two years in the summer.
Rat has been a key member of a largely dominant Shakhtar squad, which has so far seen him collect six Ukrainian league titles, four Ukrainian Cups, three Ukrainian Super Cups and one Uefa Cup. Add that to four honours we won in his native Romania makes for one impressive CV.
He also has 87 international caps to his name since making his debut in 2002. He was a member of the squad for Euro 2008, the last major tournament that Romania have qualified for since Euro 2000, where he helped his side to draws with France and Italy before losing to Holland and crashing out at the group stage.
A seasoned Champions League veteran, he would have added a glut of experience to a shaky West Ham back-line, but instead he will now likely join Marseille to continue to play in Europe’s most elite league tournament.