Tomáš Souček has been named 2019 Czech Footballer of the Year.
The 25 year old – who ClaretandHugh tipped as a future skipper should we stay up – is currently on loan at the London Stadium and has been mightily impressive in his limited appearances.
Now the midfielder has won the acclaim – whose parent club is Slavia Prague – has been acclaimed the best in his country by managers, captains, his fellow Czech Republic internationals and sports journalists.
The Hammers official website says: ‘Souček easily beat Sevilla goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík and midfielder Vladimir Darida into second and third place respectively, receiving 760 votes to Vaclík’s 299 and Darida’s 275.
The central midfielder was inspirational in 2019, leading Slavia to the Czech First League title and the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals in the first half of the year, before helping Czech Republic qualify automatically for the UEFA European Championship finals and starring for Slavia in the UEFA Champions League in the latter half.
And Soucek said: “When I was young, I always admired those who were winning the Footballer of the Year awards, Nedvěd, Rosický, Čech and many more, and now I am among them.
“It’s strange feeling, I cannot really describe it. I always wanted to play in the first league, to win the title, to try some foreign league, but Footballer of the Year? I have never been thinking about it. Now I must say thank you to many people!”
ClaretandHugh says: Whoever was responsible for unearthing Soucek deserves a medal because despite only making a handful of appearances before becoming injured and returning to the squad for the Arsenal game, he has been deeply impressive – a player of real quality and a natural leader. Despite only appearing in four games all these qualities have been obvious and assuming we remain in the Premier League he and Jarrod Bowen will be with us to give the club a totally different season next term or this if it finally gets completed. They were two brilliant signings which makes some of those we bought under the previous manager look a lot less than what is obviously required. Soucek will cost in the region of £22 million – £4.5 million of which has already been paid up front – and with him and the former Hull player on board the club are finally looking good in midfield. We would need another striker and left back but that’s for later. Our congratulations to Tomas.
