West Ham ace Tomas Soucek doesn't get enough flowers for overlooked trait

West Ham United midfielder Tomas Soucek often gets praised for his defensive work, but rarely for the job he performs in attack.

It's been six-and-a-half years since Soucek first signed for West Ham, initially joining on loan from Slavia Prague in January 2020.

Now 31, the Czechia international is still a hugely important player for the Hammers, despite failing to make over 40 appearances in all competitions over his last two seasons.

Despite being relegated with the Hammers last term, Soucek is hoping to enjoy a memorable summer at the World Cup, having made his 91st senior cap for Czechia in their opening group stage defeat to South Korea.

With 284 competitive appearances to his name, the midfielder has undoubtedly earned himself cult-hero status among the Irons faithful.

But, when the time comes for him to leave West Ham, he may not get the flowers he deserves for the role he's played in attack during his time at the London Stadium.

How good was Tomas Soucek's attacking stats in 2025-26?

That time may be coming too, as he's only contracted with West Ham until next summer.

Primarily a defensive midfielder, Soucek's box-to-box ability has helped him to score 47 career competitive goals for the Hammers, which is a fantastic return.

His quality in defence is well-known, but the value he provides at the other end of the pitch is so often forgotten about, or simply not realised by many.

As per FotMob, no defensive midfielder in the Premier League last season registered a higher expected goals (xG) than Soucek's 5.68.

Meanwhile, his 57 touches in the opposition box ranked him in the top 4.9 percentile of his positional rivals.

In addition to that, Soucek's 14 shots on target and eight headed shots both placed him in the leading 6.2 per cent respectively.

Rewind to 2024-25, and Soucek led Premier League defensive midfielders for goals (nine), expected goals (6.93), shots (55) and headed shots (20) respectively.

Never has he finished a full single season with less than six goal contributions across all competitions during his time as a West Ham player, with his best being 13 in 2023-24.

Soucek position change could work promotion wonders

Should Soucek stay for the 2026-27 season in the Championship, Nuno Espirito Santo may feel there's no need to move the Czech out of his typical defensive midfield role.

However, his attacking numbers suggest that pushing him on as a number 10 next year could really see him power the Hammers' attack in their second-tier promotion charge.

As detailed via Transfermarkt, Soucek has only every operated as an attacking midfielder 20 times during his Hammers career.

But, across those 20 appearances, he's been able to score seven goals and provide one assist, which is a serious level of goal production.

That means that approximately 15 per cent of the goals he's scored for West Ham have come when playing a position that he's spent just seven per cent of his Hammers career deployed in.

Soucek as a number 10? It's absolutely not as crazy an idea as it may sound to some.