West Ham right-back Vladimir Coufal seems to have regressed badly since he suffered an injury to his groin around this time last year.
David Moyes brought the 30-year-old to the London Stadium from Slavia Prague in October 2020 for around £5 million (The Guardian).
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The 30-capped Czech Republic international was an instant hit with the Hammers and became a cult hero amongst the fans pretty much overnight.
Coufal was fantastic during his debut campaign in the Premier League. However, things started to go downhill last season.
Vladimir Coufal suffered a groin injury playing for West Ham against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup in December, but kept playing through the pain for quite some time.
He was then forced to spend an extensive period on the sidelines because of the injury and in truth, he never really returned as the same player.
What has happened to West Ham right-back Vladimir Coufal?
A lot of players struggle to get back to their very best after serious injuries. Most of those players have gone through things like leg breaks of ACL injuries though.
Coufal’s was only a groin strain in fairness.
Now, the fact that he’s 30 clearly hasn’t helped, He will be on the downturn physically anyway, regardless of injuries.
Gone is the player who dominated attackers like Jack Grealish and Heung-Min Son last season.
The 30-year-old right-back is an absolute shadow of his former self…at both ends of the pitch I might add.
In the 2020/21 season, the Czech Republic international bagged seven assists in 34 Premier League outings and averaged 2.1 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, 2.6 clearances and 1.1 dribbles per game (Who Scored).
In the 2021/22 campaign, Coufal regressed in all those categories with just four assists to his name and an average of 1.6 tackles, 0.8 interceptions, 2 clearances and 0.6 dribbles per game (Who Scored).
In six games so far this season, he’s yet to register an assist and his tackles and clearances stats are even worse than they were last year (Who Scored).
Something clearly isn’t right.
He has regularly been beaten down the right hand flank by the opposing left wingers and left-backs this season. Perhaps more concerning is that he is mostly being done for pace down the outside. That is a clear and obvious sign that a player has had his time in the sun. Just ask Gary Neville.
West Ham right-back Vladimir Coufal has obviously struggled to come back from the groin problem that he suffered last year.
It seems to us like there’s something more to it though. Was the 2020/21 season a freak one for him and a complete one-off? Let’s hope that’s not the case because Coufal is a real leader on the pitch and he works harder than anyone else in the squad.
The Czech ace is professional as they come and he’s still a hugely popular figure at the London Stadium. Let’s just hope that he gets back to somewhere near his best fairly soon.
Read other West Ham news:
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£4 million man is finished at West Ham, but Moyes should keep him around
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