Ending associations with players who have become part of the fabric of West Ham is never going to be easy – especially when a whole host of them come at the same time: There’s almost a sense of loss as familiar faces like Lucas Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal, Aaron Cresswell, Danny Ings, Kurt Zouma and -probably – Michail Antonio end their contracts and leave. Many contributors to Claret and Hugh’s ‘comments’ section suggest that Cresswell and Coufal deserve another year at least: Sometimes sentimentality and football don’t go hand in hand.
The surprisingly sensitive release yesterday concerning Michail Antonio shows West Ham are not all about cold hard business – the West Ham statement “As a long-serving, highly-respected player, and a much-loved member of the West Ham family, the Club’s absolute priority at this time is to support Michail personally in his journey to resume playing at the highest level” Does suggest a level of humanity exists even within Premier League big business football.
The Coufal decision, however, appears to have been spot on: If yesterday’s poor international performance – which was absolutely slated – is anything to go by, new potential suitors for full-back Vladimir Coufal will be fast reconsidering.
Leeds United News pull no punches in suggesting the Hammers were spot on to call ‘time’ on Coufals claret and blue career:
“Leeds United must think twice about West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal as ‘huge problems’ emerge”- ran their article: “The right-back had a nightmare against the likes of Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric…Coufal had huge problems in the first half..He had a hard time keeping up with the agile Croatians”
All of which vindicates the West Ham decision to release Coufal: It is something we have watched for over a season as Coufal has struggled defensively. At thirty two, his pace is fading and without that, he can be a liability. As his national side have now found to their cost as they were routed 5-1 by Croatia.