Daniel Feliciano

Sat 14 October 2023 17:40, UK

West Ham United have already made the decision to extend Vladimir Coufal’s contract by triggering an option in his current deal, report Claret & Hugh.

The Czech Republic right-back is currently in the final year of his contract at the London Stadium, but the Hammers have the option to extend that by a further year which they intend to take up.

But the club are considering offering him a fresh deal on top of that, which could take him to the end of his career in east London.

“West Ham United are planning to take up the option on Vladi Coufal’s current contract and they may indeed offer him a further extension,” they wrote.

“The player has made it clear that he is near certain to accept the offer should the Hammers put it too him.

“He has often discussed his love of the club and it is even possible that should he continue in his current form he could land a deal which would take him to the end of his time in the game.”

Deserved

There was a point in time where Coufal’s form was a real point of concern for West Ham fans and we though we’d already seen the best of him.

But over the last 12 months he has stepped up again and become the undisputed first-choice option ahead of multi-million pound signing Thilo Kehrer and academy graduate Ben Johnson.

As he approaches 32 there has to be some consideration to the fact that he could absolutely already be at his best which would mean he’s only going to go downhill from here.

But his experience and quality deserves to be rewarded and just because he may not be first-choice after next season doesn’t mean he can’t offer something to the squad.

An extra deal would need to be earned for sure considering his age, but he’s won the Hammers fans over after initially losing them and you’d be hard-pressed to find any fans who see that as bad news at this point.

In other West Ham news, controversial Premier League defender is a transfer target for January.