Moyes To Stick With Czechs

Hammers manager David Moyes will be pondering as to just how he is going to do a loaves and fishes with his, what will be immensely meagre, transfer budget. Unfortunately his hands are tied behind his back as a result of the impact Covid -19 has had on football finances, and as a result of his predecessor emptying the cupboard in it's entirety and more some!

West Ham struck it incredibly lucky with the initial loan and then purchase of Tomas Soucek from Slavia Prague, he was followed by his team mate Vlad 'the impaler' Coufal, both players have been a revelation and a major contributing factor in Hammers unlikely push for a European slot.

The pair arrived for a total of around £26 Million including Soucek's loan fee, which represents astonishingly good value, to put things in to perspective, the same amount of money Hammers lost on Sebastien Haller, and around the same amount of money Hammers are just about to lose on Felipe Anderson!

Although other teams are now 'sniffing around' in the Czech Republic for players, Hammers do have the jump on them because of the 'favourable' arrangements they have negotiated with Slavia Prague in the past as well as those they may do in the near future.

One other very interesting aspect of the 'Czech' mates situation, is that in addition to building up a good reputation with Czech based clubs, Hammers also have key connections among the players' representatives, one such person being Tomas Soucek's agent, Pavel Paska.

Significantly Paska also represents 18 year old super star in the making Adam Hlozek, Hlozek has attracted plenty of attention due to his fine form for Sparta Prague this season. 11 goals and nine assists in 21 games is pretty good going for an 18 year old, particularly in a league that is not renowned for being 'gentle'!

Many 'foreign' players who arrive in the UK are shocked to discover the pace and 'brutality of the Barclays Premier League, this unfortunately was apparent from the get go with Haller, and Anderson could only take one season of it before he started to run scared following a nasty back injury picked up against Sheffield United.

There have been no such problems with Coufal and Soucek, therefore it is no surprise that Moyes is looking at signing Hlozek despite his young age, he has shown the ability to thrive at a 'higher' level and could be available on the type of deal that could well suit West Ham, namely either another loan to purchase, or more likely a 'structured' permanent deal that would probably contain more caveats and clauses than a Grays Inn drinking den.

There may be those who think that Hammers sticking to the Czech market is blinkered, to which we would say "it is the only market that hasn't come back to bite the club on it's L'arse!" Whether by luck or judgement, West Ham have found themselves a niche market ahead of all the rest, it is now up to the board to exploit it, by doing so they can kill two birds with one stone, well three actually.

Getting good players that the manager wants, will placate him, and the fans, and it would have an added bonus of the club being able to operate within tight constraints WITHOUT a massive dip in quality, a proverbial win win. - Ed