20 Comments

Kral’s Irons chance unlikely unless Rice or Soucek exit

West Ham have admitted that the only interest they would hold in Alex Kral would be in the event of the club losing either Declan or Tomas.

We revealed earlier today that despite intense speculation that we were set to sign the Spartak Moscow midfielder,  there has been no bid and  unlikely to be unless the worst case scenario came about.

But with their being zero chance of either midfielder leaving, David Moyes is concentrating his energies in the summer window elsewhere.

In a perfect world and were we Manchester City or Chelsea for example  it would be a signing which would almost inevitably be made.

But Moyes is being cautious and keeping  as much money in the bank as he can towards the priority targets – Lingard and a top striker.

At this stage it’s impossible to know how much the striker would cost and the boss will remain ultra cautious in spending his cash until that is settled.

A key source told us: Mind you, he’s (Kral) a good player and IF we lost Rice or Soucek, which is very unlikely, we’d look at him but we’ve made no bid whatsoever.”

 

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

20 comments on “Kral’s Irons chance unlikely unless Rice or Soucek exit

  1. WHY, WE NEED A CENTRE MID, SPEND THE MONEY SOUCEK AND RICE CAN’T PLAY EVERY GAME

  2. So in other words the budget is way lower than you have been saying

    3 players at the costs you are quoting would never add up to the 75-80m that you are quoting

    • do you know the prices then? No it’s not – what makes you say that. Abraham say £30m, Lingard £25m and who knows on the central defender

    • Ok if you say so . However I’m not sure we said he would spend £85 million only that that was what is available. I’m not sure either that any of what’s going on is down to us although if you want it to be, fine! As we regularly hear, DM is careful with dough.

  3. I quite fancy big Issa Diop in a CM Role!

    He’d be a nightmare to play against box to box and he’d compliment our flair players nicely.

  4. I am beginning to get the feeling it is going to be a poor summer window with players like Abraham and Barkley coming in. Imaging being linked with players like Hlozek, Daka, Kral and we end up with dross – what a letdown.

    • You have to understand that getting a central midfielder in that is good enough is going to be the most difficult signing of the lot. Any player that may be interested that is good enough is going to know straight away that the only time they will play is when either rice or souchek are injured, suspended or in need of a rest. You cant all shout about us not signing anyone in that position. Its not as straight forward as we need a midfielder so sign one unless we sign one that is not as good as what we have as back up already.

  5. We do need an extra midfielder, particularly with the extra games next season. Relying on Noble to step in if one of them gets injured is madness.

    I think we may end up with a rubbish free transfer like John Lundstram just because he’s cheap.

    • Nothing wrong with Lundstram. Not a bad player just happened to be playing in a very poor team this year just the same as Dawson the year before and look how that signing turned out for us. Judge a player by what he does not what team he plays for.

  6. We may have an abundance of midfielders, but we only have two defensive midfielders – please don’t mention Mark Noble – and we can’t expect them both to play the sheer number of games there will be next season. We desperately need cover there and the disappointment over not going for Kral is nothing to do with blame, it is because he ticks every box, including the oft-mentioned price. If Lanzini goes he would be a good replacement as there will be ample creative players left.

  7. I’m concerned with the determination to sign Lingard , particularly if it means a central midfielder is not bought .
    Lingard form tapered off hugely in the last 5 games .
    Maybe fatigue was the issue and a full preseason might rejuvenate him . Or maybe not !
    Very concerning.

    • nine goals and 5 assists in 16 games might have something to do with it. finished second top scorer for us and only played for us for 4 months.

      What’s wrong with everyone at the moment.

  8. We arguably lost out on a champions league place because we did not have an adequate replacement for Declan when he was injured. Next season we will be playing in the Europa league and due to the lack of investment from GSB we will suffer. There is no way that Declan and Soucek can play every game. especially after playing in the Euros. Knowing our owners, they will definitely be looking at freebies and than use Claret & Hugh to say it was the manager who decided not to invest in a quality midfielder. It is not like our supporters are oblivious to how owners are.

  9. Ex whu employee reckons the deal for kral will be done before the Euros start. Would spell the end of mark noble but I’m not sure a player of the quality of would be happy sitting on the bench.

  10. I really hope we do the Kral deal, we need proper back-up from a player that is in the same mould as Rice/Soucek; especially with the Euro games coming now. I don’t think we have anyone with a similar playing style, and for me Kral would fit that bill.

    I also think it would be very good to bring adequate cover in, IF (hope not!!) Rice decide to leave next season. It would be great if someone like Kral would have a year of PL experience under his belt. So for me this deal makes much more sense than improving on the defence; as we have some good first team choices and a few decent enough youngsters. Alves did pretty good for Denmark in the U21, and Alves, Baptiste & Alese could work as cup game players for me (If we assume that the Euro & PL will be the priorities).

    So I hope this deal happens, but I trust Moyes to do the right thing!

  11. Said at the time that I thought the extension of Nobles contract wasn’t great footballing descion but more of a “thank you for your service” sentimental descion… Will only play off the bench but imho would have freed up a squad position… for someone like Kral 🤔

  12. I cant believe after all the hype we are not trying to sign Kral. He would be a fantastic addition to our midfield. Not just as back up. Firstly with the Premier League two domestic Cup competitions and The Europa League we will be able to rotate our players. Secondly can you imagine a central midfield of Rice, Soucek AND Kral. That would be an Iron Curtain not many teams would be able to brake through. It would also allow Soucek to get forward more often and score even more goals, but also allow us to play a genuine 4 4 3 formation with 3 out and out attacking players. Flair players like (Hopefully Lingard) Benrahma, Bowen, Antonio etc would be used as more offensive knowing the centre Mid is sured up.

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