Graham Potter, when replacing Julen Lopetegui in the West Ham United dugout, needed no introduction as to the talents of one of the Premier League club’s key operators.
The former Swansea City, Brighton and Chelsea boss was keen to point out, during his introductory press conference in January, that ‘until you get under the bonnet, you are never sure’ what you are dealing with.
Yet, if Potter had admired the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta from afar, there was one West Ham United player whose qualities he was more familiar with than most. After all, half a decade previously, he had tried and failed to bring him to Brighton and Hove Albion.
And this all makes reports suggesting Graham Potter is keen to move Tomas Soucek on over the summer all the more surprising.
Potter may have reservations about Soucek’s ability to last the pace in the Premier League from here on in, his 31st birthday coming up in February. Yet, as the evergreen Czech international proved twice in The Hammers’ last three Premier League fixtures, there are still few better than Tomas Soucek in the whole of the division when it comes to crashing the penalty area and locating the back of the opposition net.
Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Graham Potter is a big Tomas Soucek fan but West Ham may still sell
Just a fortnight after a trademark header at The Amex, the former Slavia Prague captain gave West Ham the lead at Manchester United. Soucek is now just two goals behind Patrick Berger in his bid to become the most prolific Czech player in Premier League history.
Whether that is a record he breaks in the claret and blue of West Ham, only time will tell.
Football correspondent Graeme Bailey exclusively told Hammers News this week that Leeds and Everton have entered talks with Soucek. West Ham may be willing to let him go, albeit reports of a £20 million price-tag leave Leeds fans in particular with cold feet.
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Now, maybe Potter has a point. Maybe, if West Ham can bring in £20 million for an already 30-year-old midfielder with so many miles on the clock, this will be a decision which ages like the finest bottle of Bordeaux.
Potter admits he wanted Soucek at Brighton and Hove Albion
Then again, during a season in which Jarrod Bowen is the only other Hammer to score more than four Premier League goals, Soucek’s unique skillset may prove somewhat irreplaceable. And can West Ham’s recruitment team really be trusted – on recent evidence – to find another midfielder capable of pushing double figures?
“What did I see in him at Brighton? The same [as what he is producing now],” Potter said as Nuno Espirito Santo plans to bring his Nottingham Forest team to the capital. “The same that West Ham have seen in him, and what he has developed in fairness.
“He’s been a fantastic signing for the club first and foremost.
“To deliver what he’s delivered over a period of time, brilliant in the boxes, helps defensively, set-pieces and then to chip in, as a midfielder, with goals is vital.
“Again, another one who goes about his work in a quiet way but always 100 per cent, always giving everything. So he’s been fantastic to work with.”
According to The Athletic, Brighton sent representatives to the Czech Republic back in January 2020. The Seagulls held talks with Soucek. But, once West Ham made their interest known, the four-time Czech Footballer of the Year is understood to have described his eventual £19 million switch to the capital as a ‘no-brainer’.
Ahead of what could be a London Stadium farewell to Aaron Cresswell, Vladimir Coufal, Lukasz Fabianski and Danny Ings, as well as potentially Soucek and Michail Antonio too, the decision which now falls upon the West Ham chiefs is anything but a ‘no-brainer’.