“I’m very happy I am part of the West Ham family,” Vladimír Coufal, who will wear the No5 shirt told WHUFC.com “I will do everything so that West Ham will be successful.
“I know about the interest West Ham had in me for a long time but now finally I am here and I am so happy.
“Tomáš told me on the best things, that it’s a good stadium with good fans and perfect teammates and staff. Tomáš is my very good friend and I hope he will help me here.”
“We want to play good for West Ham together and get good results. I am very happy that Tomáš helped me [in my career] and I hope I will be good [for West Ham] like him!
“My two years in Slavia were unbelievable because we won everything that we could win [domestically], but the Champions League is the best.”
“I didn’t know that Řepka played as a right-back,” he revealed. “That’s news to me as I thought he played as a central defender. He’s harder than me! I like attacking more and I think that I have better control of the ball than Tomas!
“I like an attacking game and I hope that West Ham will be attacking all match!”
Born in the city of Ostrava in the far east of Czech Republic in August 1992, Coufal began his career with FC Hlučín, debuting in a 2. Liga fixture at Dukla Prague in September 2010, just four weeks after his 18th birthday. After spending the 2011/12 season on loan with 2. Liga club Opava, the defender was signed by First League club Slovan Liberec, where he spent the next six seasons, winning the Czech Cup in 2015 and making more than 150 appearances, including 27 in the UEFA Europa League.
It was during his final campaign at Slovan Liberec that Coufal was rewarded for his consistently impressive performances with a senior international debut for Czech Republic, starting his country’s 1-0 friendly win in Qatar in November 2017.
The following summer, he was signed by one of Czech Republic’s two biggest clubs, Slavia Prague, where he teamed up with Souček and enjoyed two trophy-filled seasons, completing a domestic double in 2018/19 and securing a second straight First League title last season.
After appearing in three more friendly internationals, Coufal made his competitive debut for his country in September 2019, starting a 3-0 UEFA Euro 2020 win in Montenegro and keeping his place for the outstanding 2-1 victory over England the following month.
He will become the eighth Czech player to represent West Ham, following Luděk Mikloško (1990-98), Tomáš Řepka (2001-06), Pavel Srníček (2004), Marek Štěch (2006-12), Jan Laštůvka (2008-09), Radoslav Kováč (2008-11) and Souček, who joined the Irons earlier this year.
Vlad the Impaler – it’s written in the stars chaps. This guy looks like a true hammer for sure…competition for places is essential and it would be smashing to top this off with a LB and a CB to shore us up even more. I guarantee songs will be sung about Vlad the Impaler…
Looks excellent offensively if we are to play 352 or 343 Johnson is more of a defender than attacking full back but between him and Coufal am sure we will be stronger. Can maybe move Fredericks on in January.
I’m sure he’ll make a big difference to the team and a welcome boost for the squad and supporters alike, but the best part of his signing is that it is so refreshing to see a player who looks genuinely hungry and excited to be here…
A very rare thing these days.