David Moyes has surely lost patience with Tomas Soucek after display v Brentford, January sale on cards
West Ham United midfielder Tomas Soucek has surely lost the patience of David Moyes after his latest disappointing display against Brentford and a January sale certainly now won’t be out of the question.
The Hammers fell to their fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday (5 November) in an action-packed London derby in the Premier League.
Goals from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus gave the Irons hope of ending their torrid run of form, only for Thomas Frank’s men to score twice in the second half to ensure they came away 3-2 winners.
Moyes has come under increasing pressure recently as a result of a bad run of form and may view their next run of games as an opportunity to make wholesale changes to his squad, but also with a view towards the January transfer window.
And one man in danger of losing his permanent spot at the London Stadium is Soucek who is already attracting interest from top European clubs, despite the talk of a new contract being on the cards.
Inter Milan are eager to sign the midfielder on a free transfer when his contract expires at the London Stadium at the end of the season [Corriere Dello Sport, 11 October] while Juventus are readying a low-ball offer for the Czech Republic international [CalcioMercato, 18 October] should his contract situation continue.
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 the Serie A giants his future at the London Stadium has been secured with a new “long-term” deal.
However, it won’t be far from the realms of possibility for the Irons to do a complete U-turn on a contract decision after recent performances in a West Ham United shirt, which shows he may not be the quality Moyes needs to take the club forward.
One of his recent displays against Aston Villa on 22 October will have certainly left a sour taste in the mouths of some Hammers fans.
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.
It was a similar theme again on Sunday (5 November) with the Czech international completely taken apart by Brentford, and once again failing to convince Moyes of his future role in East London.
In his 90 minutes on the pitch, Soucek barely touched the ball again with just 47 touches in midfield, failed to register a single key pass, lost 100% of his six ground duels, lost 100% of his six aerial duels which is a huge surprise given his height and qualities in the air, made a silly error leading to a goal, lost possession of the ball nine times and was dribbled past twice [SofaScore] in another hapless showing.
It’s no wonder Moyes is seeing himself come under rising scrutiny again at the London Stadium, with a number of his key players like Soucek, Michail Antonio, Nayef Aguerd and Vladimir Coufal all underperforming yet again.
The Hammers have some big aspirations for this season following their Europa Conference League success in June but they look a far cry from matching those heights right now if Moyes continues to back the likes of Soucek who aren’t even worthy of new deals at the club.
With the Czech’s contract situation still yet to be confirmed at the London Stadium, it won’t be a surprise to see West Ham United do a complete 180 and him sale him on in January to ensure they receive a healthy windfall for his services.
An upgrade in midfield is needed as soon as possible.
In other West Ham news, Simon Jordan has reacted to the latest David Moyes news.