Vladimir Coufal (Getty Images)
According to BBC, West Ham have signed Slavia Prague’s Vladimir Coufal for £5.4m. The Hammers were in dire need of cover at right-back after Ryan Fredericks was out injured in the league game versus Wolves.
Vladimir Coufal is a 28-year-old Czech right-back who started his youth career at Ostrava before moving to FC Hlucin in 2010. The right-back managed 14 first-team appearances but was loaned out the following season to SFC Opava. He was back to the club after 13 games on loan.
Slovan Liberec signed him in 2012. Over the next couple of seasons, he made 158 appearances for them, scoring 6 goals and assisting 10 more (source – Transfermarkt). He made the move to Slavia Prague in 2018 and has featured 87 times for them since, contributing to 16 goals (7 goals + 9 assists). So far, he has played 8 games for the Czech Republic national team with 2 goals his name.
Now, more than ever, West Ham needed a right-back. Ben Johnson was the only available natural right-back for David Moyes and you can understand why he was sweating over securing another player in that position.
West ham have been in need of bolstering their defence for the season. The injury to Fredericks just escalated the problems even more. They were days away from the close of the transfer window and were looking at the prospect of going through the season with Johnson as the first-choice right-back.
Vladimir Coufal represents a good solution to this problem. He is an experienced player with over 200 games in a first division league. Granted, it’s the Czech league but it doesn’t mean players from there haven’t fared well in the Premier League.
He is a bargain signing at £5.4million in today’s inflated market. Add to that, his ability to chip in with goals and assists on a fairly regular basis and you have a good solution to West Ham’s right-back problems.
West Ham surely needed a player like Coufal and they have done well to wrap up a deal for him.
