Podcast host Dave Walker has claimed the form West Ham United men Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal reminds him of Felipe Anderson.
Last season, the Czech duo both enjoyed fine seasons and were even touted for the club’s prestigious Hammer of the Year award. However, this term, some feel as though they have not quite been at their best, which has led to questions over their respective futures.
Indeed, during a recent episode of The West Ham Way podcast, Walker was asked whether or not he’d be open to selling either player if they could not rediscover their top form in the coming months.
This caused the presenter to draw a comparison with former player Anderson – who was initially a key man at the club, but eventually fell out of favour under David Moyes.
Should Kurt Zouma play for West Ham again?
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Walker outlined his thoughts, saying: “I don’t like turning my back on those boys so quickly, if I’m honest, and I’d like to think it’s just a difficult run of form.
“My fear is that we’re looking at another Felipe Anderson scenario, where he was a world-beater when he first came to West Ham and then just completely went off the mark.
“Maybe that’s the case with one of them, if not both of them. For me personally, I would definitely give them the rest of this season in terms of delaying my judgement on it.
“And then if things don’t improve, I would still be tempted to give them next season as well. Because I like them so much. And I’m just convinced that this is just a poor run of form at the moment.”
TIF Thoughts on Felipe Anderson and West Ham…
Anderson signed for West Ham in 2018 for a club-record fee of £35m, but only managed to score 12 goals in 73 appearances, before being sold to Lazio on a cut-price deal in 2021.
In his first season with the club, he scored an impressive nine Premier League goals and played in 36 games, but after that, he only netted on one more occasion in the league across the following two seasons.
In the current campaign, both Soucek and Coufal remain important first-team regulars for the Hammers, but if their form should drop off even more, perhaps Moyes will look to cast them off just as he did to the Brazilian.
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