West Ham ace Soucek wins Czech player of the year award, Coufal runner-up
West Ham ace Tomas Soucek has been voted Czech Republic player of the year for the second season in a row, with Vladimir Coufal coming second.
The duo have been big hits in east London. Soucek arrived last year on loan before joining permanently in the summer. Coufal also joined from Slavia Prague at the referral of Soucek in October.
Soucek becomes the fourth back-to-back winner of the accolade. Petr Cech, Tomas Rosicky and Pavel Nedved are now the only men ahead of him for wins. He will have to go a long way to better Cech, though, he’s won the crown nine times.
It’s the first time Coufal has been nominated for the award and he thoroughly deserves the recognition. He has been a massive coup for the Hammers, performing consistently week in, week out, and bringing a warrior-like mentality to the club.
Czech mates
We can’t get enough of these two. Soucek and Coufal epitomise everything that it means to play for West Ham. They never stop grafting, always giving 110% and both have enough quality to turn a game on its head.
Without Soucek’s nine league goals this season we’d be 11 points worse off and be below Leeds in the bottom half of the table. He contributes so much in both boxes with his aerial ability – winning 306 headers which is over 50 more than the second most [WyScout]. He covers more ground than anyone in the squad and is simply essential to us now.
Coufal is the same. Along with Soucek, since coming into the side, he’s started every single Premier League game. Coufal is vital to the back four, he’s put in some excellent individual performances this year.
He’s pocketed the likes of Jack Grealish, Wilfried Zaha and Heung-Min Son, just to name a few. Coufal has also picked up assists against Manchester City, Crystal Palace and West Brom – gaining us two draws and a win.
Congratulations to their pair of them. Both will be in the running for the Hammer of the Year award at the end of the season.
In other West Ham news, Rio Ferdinand claims he’s argued with ‘pundit after pundit’ about this Hammers ace.