Irons steal transfer window march but set to pay price

Alex Kral

The instant Premier League success of Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal has seen the Hammers steal a march in the global transfer market.

That we have managed to buy two top-level Champions League players for less than £25 million is an achievement in anybody’s book.

But the downside is that the Premier League at large has now cottoned on as the midfielder and right full-back continue to shine in the Hammers shirts.

And the latest player to be catching the eye is currently playing in Russia at Spartak Moscow after another cheapie move from Slavia Prague in September for £12 million.

And word now is that 22-year-old central midfielder Alex Kral could be the next Czech star on his way to the Premier League.

According to The Mirror top-flight scouts are swarming all over the central midfielder who is valued at £30m as interest grows big time in Czech stars..

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.

The Hammers are 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 we 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.