Why league-leading Tomas Chory isn't the player West Ham fans may think he is

West Ham United would be signing somewhat of a unicorn in Tomas Chory.

Nuno Espirito Santo is hoping to field a West Ham team to be feared by all in the Championship this coming season.

The Hammers are expected to win automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, and anything but a return to the top flight would be seen as a huge failure.

Standing at 6'6" tall, Chory would certainly provide a menacing figure to spearhead West Ham's attack, with the 31-year-old Czechia international now being linked with a move to the London Stadium.

Because of his age and the fact he's spent the vast majority of his playing career in Czechia, there will be some Hammers fans understandably sceptical over his potential signing.

However, when you peel back the curtain on his production for Slavia Prague, that scepticism should transition to intrigue and excitement.

How Tomas Chory led 1.Liga strikers in surprising areas

West Ham Zone has been following Slavia Prague's reported reluctance to sell Chory this summer.

The Olomouc-born centre-forward has been with them since the summer of 2024, and in his two seasons there has lifted back-to-back Czech 1.Liga titles.

He's got a very impressive goalscoring record on his CV too, with 31 scored in 56 league games for Slavia.

But given his physical profile and his age, it would be fair to presume that he's the type of striker who simply lingers around the penalty area with his sole responsibility being to get on the end of deliveries.

That's absolutely not the case with Chory though, as detailed through his underlying numbers via FotMob.

Indeed, Chory's 299 successful passes, 30 chances created, 153 duels won and 41 fouls won all ranked him in the top 4.7 percentile of all 1.Liga strikers in 2025-26.

Meanwhile, his four successful crosses placed him in the top 12.5 per cent, his 46 defensive contributions ranked in the leading 10.9 per cent and his 34 clearances put him on the top 6.2 per cent amongst his positional rivals.

Clearly then, West Ham wouldn't just be getting a big target man striker who rarely leaves the opposition penalty area, but rather, he's an industrious forward who will get back and defend whilst also bringing playmaking and link-up ability to the attack.

It's not just in the Czech league that Chory has shown his class either, as he's performed at a very high level across Europe's top competitions too.

Chory has competition-topping Europa and Champions League pedigree

So, there may well be a number of West Ham fans thinking to themselves, 'he's done it in the Czech league, but that's nothing to get particularly excited about'.

But when those fans learn of how well he's performed in both the Europa League and the Champions League respectively, then they most surely will be on board with securing his services.

It has to be noted that his 2025-26 Champions League campaign was disappointing, with zero goals or assists provided from seven games.

However, 2024-25 saw him net twice in four appearances in Europe's premier club competition, whilst ranking in the top 3.3 per cent of all strikers that year for his 66.7 per cent duels won rate, as per FotMob.

On top of that, he netted four times and chipped in with one assist from seven Europa League appearances, averaging 0.92 goals per 90 minutes and finishing in the top 7.2 per cent for his 4.15 shots per game average.

So, if he can produce numbers of that standard at those levels, as well as factoring in his goalscoring record in Czech football, then Chory could be a class above at Championship level for West Ham.