By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Tomáš Souček is edging closer to a West Ham return, although I suspect his role in Nuno Espírito Santo’s team may look rather different when he eventually comes back.
The Czech midfielder has been out since suffering an ankle ligament injury while representing his country at the World Cup.
But there has now been a significant step forward in his recovery.
Speaking to the official West Ham website, Nuno confirmed Souček has started joining parts of first-team training.
“He is improving and has joined the group for parts of the sessions,” said Nuno.
“He is also trying to complement that with sessions with the fitness coach so that when he returns, he is in the right place.”
That is clearly good news.
But getting fit again and getting straight back into this West Ham midfield are now two very different things.
Nuno has been keeping a close eye on Soucek in training
West Ham’s Midfield Has Moved On
I still think Souček has a big role to play this season, particularly with Championship fixtures coming thick and fast.
His biggest problem is probably competition.
Midfield is arguably the one area where West Ham are absolutely stacked.
Arne Engels in particular is starting to look increasingly difficult to leave out.
I wrote recently that West Ham’s £22m investment in Engels was beginning to make far more sense, and his engine and work rate now give Nuno qualities Souček traditionally supplied.
In a two-man midfield, I don’t really see Engels and Souček working as a pairing.
For that reason, I’d probably use Souček from the bench.
Souček Still Has One Major Weapon
Souček always had two major attributes at West Ham: what he could do in both penalty boxes.
Defensively, I’m not sure we’ll need that quite as much in the Championship.
In the Premier League he was often brilliant at planting himself in our box and effectively saying, “Thou shalt not pass.”
West Ham shouldn’t be under that sort of sustained pressure this season.
Where I think he can still be incredibly useful is at the other end.
His goalscoring record for West Ham speaks for itself, and his ability to sniff out chances and make late runs into the box isn’t suddenly going to disappear.
That could be even more valuable now.
West Ham have already looked dangerous from dead-ball situations, while Souček’s aerial ability gives Nuno another weapon when games become physical or opponents sit deep.
There are definitely goals in them there hills.
And with Souček already having been pictured back on the training pitch recently, this latest update confirms the comeback is gathering pace.
He may no longer walk straight into West Ham’s midfield.
But as an attacking option from the bench, particularly in this division, I still think he could be extremely useful.
There’s more than enough space for everybody the number of games we need to play.
Agree, he will be good as an impact sub. Mostly played last season because defensively we were terrible in the air. He is going to struggle to be first choice, but you never know how injuries/ suspensions might affect us. He drives me mad most of the time but has had many great moments.
His involvement in the Conference League winner somehow feels emblematic of his Hammers career; random back heel which bounces of a Fiorentina player and he hasn’t a clue where the ball has gone, hapless but crucial, because Paq pounces on it and threads THAT ball. I fully expect him to come back with further epic involvements.
I would definitely add leadership to his traits.
Bowen will need a game out soon and I think with soucek we can rest easy that the team will have a leader.
Yes room for everybody take note Nuno..
4-3-3 attack is best form of defense.