Irons may get Czech at cut down price

Russian football expert Artur Petrosyan has suggested that West Ham could land Spartak Moscow’s Alex Kral as as little as €18m (£16m)

He is Tomas Soucek’s central midfield partner for Czech Republic. Previous reports in the Daily Mirror last month suggested he could be valued at £30m.

Kral has enjoyed a whirlwind rise to prominence after an £800,000 switch to Czech League champions Slavia from mid-table Teplice in January 2019 and confirms that fees involved are incredibly low compared to the market at large.

He move to Russia joining Spartak Moscow after a cheap move from Slavia Prague in September for £12 million.

The Hammers are also strongly rumoured to be interested in Slavia Prague keeper Ondrej Kolar as a possible No 1 with Lukasz Fabianski in the last year of his current deal.

Whether the can now do the sort of ‘cut-price’ deal we managed with Tomas and Vladimir remains very much to be seen following the surge of Premier League interest in the market.