Anthony Onifade

Sat 28 October 2023 16:10, UK

West Ham United are set to announce the contract extension of Tomas Soucek soon and fears he could depart have been “allayed” but the Hammers could well be guilty of flushing millions away.

TalkSPORT journalist Alex Crook, sharing a behind-scenes update from the London Stadium on Friday (27 October) reported that amid “strong interest” in the Czech midfielder from Serie A giants Inter [Corriere Dello Sport, 11 October], Soucek’s future at the London Stadium has been secured with a new “long-term” deal.

News emerged in August (The Athletic, 12 August) that the 28-year-old had signed a new four-year deal at the East Londoners while TEAMtalk reported on 9 September, that the club are expected to make an announcement on his new deal shortly, after club shareholder Daniel Kretinsky intervened to get the deal completed.

However, since then, there has been no confirmation directly from West Ham United sparking fears around the club that the Czech could quit soon with his contract winding down and interest in his services ramping up.

These latest developments certainly seems a complete U-tun by the Irons after The Times reported on 22 June that the club were willing to listen to offers for the Czech international, with his contract expiring next year and no talks planned over an extension.

Given Soucek’s contract situation, it certainly wasn’t surprising to see West Ham being proactive in the market adding three new midfielders to the squad following the £100m-plus sale of Declan Rice, signing Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Mohammed Kudus.

It was reported in Italy that both Juventus and Italy were set to do battle over Soucek’s signature with offers expected, despite his contract having six months to run in January but any hope of that now, has been quashed with the Hammers arguably set to flush millions down the drain.

While the Czech’s form may have improved before their defeat to Aston Villa last weekend (22 October) scoring four goals in his last six West Ham United games [SofaScore] before the game at Villa Park, he’s actually endured a downward spiral over the past 18 months after a superb start to life at the London Stadium upon his £19m move from Slavia Prague in 2020.

After hitting 10 goals in 38 outings during the 2020/21 campaign, he only scored twice in 36 league games [SofaScore] last season highlighting a dramatic drop in performance levels and influence – which inevitably led to him losing his place to Paqueta in the deep-lying role alongside Rice last season.

There’s certainly no doubting Soucek’s usefulness to the Hammers cause, with his influence and presence so crucial from set-pieces but his inability and lack of progression on the ball has at times cost the club, which was why they were hell-bent on adding Ward-Prowse and Kudus to their ranks this summer.

In fact, his last performance for the club certainly showed a man in a steep decline.

As per SofaScore, Soucek was absolutely nowhere to be seen at Villa Park, registering just 15 touches in his 66 minutes on the pitch, successfully completing just eight passes, recording zero key passes, having one shot off target and winning just one duel all game in an absent performance when Moyes needed him most.

There are certainly several calls from the Hammers fans to start Kudus right now and that could well force Moyes to axe Soucek and finally start the Ghanaian international in the long-term.

Why secure a long-term deal for a player who’s longer performing at the levels he used to, and throw away the chance to gain a healthy windfall on his services?

Juventus and Inter could well have paid a reasonable premium in January, so the Irons could go on and sign a much younger, fresher and more progressive midfielder to transform the midfield but also boost future sustainability.

A four-year contract for a potentially second-string player and one undergoing a rapid decline seems like an incredible overstretch from the Irons and they could well be guilty of flushing much-needed millions down the drain with this decision.

In other West Ham news, two English newspapers tore into one senior Irons player after his recent “dreadful” performance in Europe.