West Ham should avoid handing a new deal to the underperforming midfielder
The sale of midfielder Tomas Soucek has been named as a way to kickstart a significant rebuild for West Ham in the upcoming transfer window.
What’s the latest on Tomas Soucek leaving West Ham?
According to Football Insider, the Hammers hierarchy are preparing for a “changing of the guard” for their summer plans, which could involve the sale of Soucek.
The 28-year-old only has 14 months left on his current deal and hasn’t agreed to a new contract despite “extensive negotiations.”
This outlet added that alongside the Czech, Arthur Masuaku, Vladimir Coufal, Aaron Cresswell, and Pablo Fornals have been linked with summer exits.
Should West Ham let Soucek depart?
The Irons were predicted another defiant season when the board splashed over £160m last summer to continue their impressive trend of top-half finishes.
In the previous two campaigns, David Moyes had guided his side to sixth and seventh place, and directed a sensational European excursion to the Europa League semi-finals, before being eliminated by the eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt.
But, despite the excessive spending, the East London outfit has experienced a mammoth down-turn in form, where new signings have failed to settle and acclimate, and old stars have looked like a shadow of their former selves.
One player who is a primary offender is Soucek, whose West Ham career has painfully stagnated and been reflected by his abject performances this season.
After signing permanently for the Hammers in 2020, the £65k-per-week star’s physicality and deep runs were an attacking revelation for Moyes, who utilised the 6 foot 4 titan to devastating effect.
The 58-cap international netted 15 goals in 86 league appearances and registered average WhoScored ratings of 7.36 and 6.97 in his first two full seasons in England. However, this year Soucek has only recorded a rating of 6.75 to compound a miserable term for the Hammers that has seen them plummet to 15th in the domestic standings.
The demise of the former Slavia Prague man is perhaps most apparent in his horrendous passing and dribbling statistics. This is showcased by the fact that he pitifully ranks in the bottom 5% in Europe’s top five leagues among his positional peers for pass completion and progressive carries, as well as the bottom 6% for progressive carries.
His inability to link attacking sequences, dictate the midfield from deep, or orchestrate any counters has been brutally poor, and he has been described as “absolutely useless” by Irons journalist Alan Rzepa.
When he isn’t scoring, it is hard to pinpoint the value of Soucek’s value in this team and the idea of raising his current salary with an improved contract offer seems an illogical option. Instead, they must finally ditch their misfiring Czech brute.
