West Ham United could yet waste millions as Tomas Soucek contract decision made, Daniel Kretinsky intervenes

West Ham United could yet waste millions as Tomas Soucek contract decision made, Daniel Kretinsky intervenes

West Ham United could be guilty of wasting millions of pounds after a decision had been made to hand Tomas Soucek a new contract at the London Stadium.

According to TEAMtalk (9 September), the club are expected to make an announcement on his new deal shortly, after club shareholder Daniel Kretinsky insisted on a new deal for the Czech Republic international.

The online news outlet shared on 9 September that Soucek’s deal was due to expire at the end of the season, but the Czech Republic international has been handed a new four-year deal.

It’s been reported that Soucek’s countryman Kretinsky was keen to ensure the midfielder was rewarded for his fine form, and also to alleviate the threat he would leave for free at the end of the season.

This latest development certainly seems a complete U-tun by West Ham United 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.

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After four Premier League games so far this new campaign, Soucek has started three of those four but his place in the team could well be under threat in the long run with Kudus not expected to be a bench player for any longer.

More crucially though, the midfielder’s form has dramatically declined 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’s only scored twice in 36 league games [SofaScore] last season highlighting a dramatic drop in performance levels and influence, but it was such form which also saw him lose his place to Paqueta who has been asked to fill deep-lying duties alongside Rice in the Hammers midfield for much of the latter stages of last season.

There’s certainly no doubting Soucek’s usefulness to the Hammers cause, with his influence and presence so crucial from set-pieces of his inability 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 and with Paqueta proving so impactful right now, it won’t be a surprise to see Soucek lose his place soon.

A four-year contract for a potentially second-string player seems like an overstretch and it also seems as if this was Kretinsky’s decision to hand Soucek a new deal rather than Moyes himself.

What does that say about the Scottish manager’s current control on his squad right now?

It’s crucial to remember that the club were willing to allow him to leave a few months ago, Moyes was open to Soucek’s potential departure but this latest decision from West Ham’s shareholder without Moyes’ consent suggests the East Londoners could be set to waste millions needlessly.

In other West Ham news, Chris Sutton has shared his verdict on a Hammers player’s international snub.

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