Former Premier League goalkeeper Paddy Kenny has hit out at West Ham ace Vladimir Coufal over the ongoing contract situation.
The 28-year-old is believed to be negotiating a new deal at the London Stadium despite still having two years remaining on his current contract.
Signed from Slavia Prague for £5million (The Guardian), Coufal was superb during a debut season in the Premier League and the Hammers are keen to reward the Czech Republic international.
Speaking to Football Insider, Kenny suggested that both club and player should hold off.
They’ve only just signed him. He’s still got a while left on his contract. He signed that contract at the start. You don’t want to upset your players but on the other hand, as a club, you don’t want to be getting pushed into a new contract. Their finances might be stretched from trying to bring new players in anyway. He has had a brilliant season and he’s disappointed but he’s just got to get real and get on with it. After that, you can see what happens. In six months time, he might have more power to demand a new contract.
Coufal earned an average Sofascore rating of 7.38 across five European Championship appearances this summer – backing up a superb campaign for the Irons.
The 20 times capped ace contributed seven assists in 34 Premier League outings last term as David Moyes’ side qualified for the Europa League.
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This is a difficult scenario as it would appear that the club have initiated the talks in order to reward Coufal and stave off any potential suitors.
Having done so it’s upon the Hammers to meet the requirements and failure to do so may conjure an unnecessary issue between club and player.
Whilst there’s little doubt the Czech star’s displays are deserving of a new deal, Kenny is correct in that there is no rush and perhaps the situation could be revised at a later date.
