West Ham weighing up Coufal’s future amid contract uncertainty

National World - LocalTV

Vladimir Coufal’s future at West Ham remains uncertain, with his contract situation yet to be resolved. A key figure in the Hammers’ defence, his consistency and work rate have made him a fan favourite, but will he stay beyond this season? We spoke to James Jones of LondonWorld about the situation. Coufal’s performances have been strong, but with West Ham planning for the future, negotiations will be crucial.

Transcript

00:00Now, Vladimir Soufhal's future at West Ham remains uncertain, with his contract situation

00:07yet to be resolved. A key figure in the Hammers' defence, his consistency and work rate have

00:14made him a fan favourite, but will he stay beyond this season? I spoke to James Jones

00:18of London World about the situation. Soufhal's performances have been strong, but with West

00:23Ham planning for the future, negotiations will be crucial. If no new deal is agreed,

00:29could the club look for a summer replacement? With the managerial change, his experience

00:34remains valuable. West Ham fans will be hoping for clarity on his future in the coming weeks.

00:42And then let's just look at Vladimir Soufhal and his sort of comments. I mean, if you look

00:46at his time at West Ham, he's obviously part of that Conference League winning side. He's

00:51gone down in West Ham folklore for that, being part of that squad. He's made some comments

00:55on his future in terms of where he lies. He's obviously played over 30 games in the

01:00last three or four seasons for West Ham, so he's been a real stalemate, been a real mainstay

01:05in the side. What can you tell us about him and his future in terms of West Ham? Well,

01:11his contract's up at the end of the year and the club could have sold him, could have sold

01:16him to Fulham in the Jamie Transfer window. And he admitted that he was keen to make that

01:21happen given his game time under Julian Lopetegui in the first half of the season was limited

01:27given the arrival of Aaron Wan-Bissaka. And even while Aaron Wan-Bissaka was out of form

01:35and Soufhal still wasn't being picked, it was always Wan-Bissaka was the first choice.

01:41So you can understand his frustration in the winter window. He's come out and said, I want

01:47to stay in London. My kids are starting to go to school. I'm settled here. So the offer

01:51from Fulham would have been an attractive one. And you can't blame him for that. He's

01:54not playing football. He's 32 years old. So he's coming into the final years of his career

01:58and he admitted that he feels like he's still got a lot to offer in the Premier League.

02:03So you can understand his frustration. And it does look unlikely that the club will offer

02:10him a new deal, given the fact that you've got Wan-Bissaka's right back. You've got links

02:18to Kyle Walker-Peters, who's going to also be a free agent when he leaves Southampton

02:22in the summer. There's links to a number of other right backs in the summer transfer window.

02:28So it does look as though he will be leaving the club. And I understand his frustration

02:33and it's sad that he's going to leave in this way, in that he's going to leave frustrated

02:39and feel like he wants to leave because, like you said, he's an icon at West Ham.

02:45He arrived at the club. No one had even heard of him. And he'd arrived. Everyone thought

02:50he'd arrived almost as Thomas Suchek's best mate. And Suchek had said, you want to sign

02:56my mate? He's a really good right back. David Moyes went and done it. And he's been fantastic.

03:01And it makes me sad that he's still not scored a West Ham goal. He's still not scored for

03:04the club. Over 170 appearances, 20 assists and still without that goal. So if he can

03:09score a goal between now and the end of the season, that would make me very happy. And

03:14we can wave him off with a lot of thanks and a lot of love. And he'll always be loved in

03:17East London and always very well respected for what he's done for the football club.

03:22There's been a lot of young players that have had a lot of promise and potential at West

03:26Ham over the years that have either gone out alone or haven't gone out alone and been on

03:30the fringes of the first team and got the odd minutes here and there and then ended

03:33up leaving. And the majority of them haven't left and gone on to do bigger and better things,

03:39admittedly. But it does make you wonder, had they stayed, would their careers been a little

03:45bit different? Had they been a little bit more patient for their first team opportunities?

03:49But it's been very clear, particularly this season, playing for Portsmouth in the

03:53Championship, that Freddie Potts is on his way to becoming a Premier League level player.

03:59And a lot of times you see young players go out and loan to the lower leagues and you think,

04:06right, this is their opportunity to really show that they can make a step up from youth

04:09level football to league football. And they either don't do it or they do it and they still drift

04:15off into, you know, no one really knows where they end up. Whereas Freddie Potts has gone there

04:21and he's arguably been one of the best midfielders in the Championship. And it's refreshing that

04:26we've got a manager at the club that's willing to give these players a chance. Because there

04:30have been many that we felt deserved the chance and never got the chance on the previous managers.

04:36So it's good that we've got one and I'm looking forward to seeing how

04:40he fits into Graham Potter's team next season.

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