West Ham United’s £60 million new boys Kurt Zouma and Nikola Vlasic shone on the international stage overnight.
But it was a night to forget for Nikola Milenkovic, the Serbian defender who reportedly snubbed West Ham when David Moyes tried to take him from Fiorentina.
West Ham signed France international Zouma from Chelsea for £29m and Moyes insisted he ‘was always his first choice’.
Zouma the rock and Vlasic gets a goal as West Ham’s £60m new boys shine on the international stage
Croatian attacking midfielder Vlasic also arrived in a permanent deal for a reported fee topping £30m with add-ons.
And both of West Ham’s new boys made headlines for their countries in their final matches of this international break before they finally meet up with their new Hammers teammates ahead of this weekend’s trip to Southampton.
Zouma was a rock as part of a back three for France in a 2-0 win over Finland.
Zouma was rated France’s second best player of the game behind two-goal Antoine Griezmann with four aerial duels won, a 97% pass success rate and even a shot on goal (WhoScored).
Vlasic showed striker’s instincts with far post header
Meanwhile Vlasic showed a predatory striker’s instinct as he headed home at the far post to round off Croatia’s 3-0 win over Slovenia.
Moyes may well take note of that having not signed a striker to play back-up to Michail Antonio in the summer window.
It was not a great night for Milenkovic, though. His name is in the record books as having scored an own goal at the death to hand Republic of Ireland a 1-1 draw against Serbia.
Bad night for man who snubbed Hammers as Milenkovic scores an own goal
Milenkovic looked clumsy as he got himself involved in an embarrassing mix up which saw the ball cannoned against him by a teammate and into his own net.
Vlasic and Zouma’s new West Ham teammates Vladimir Coufal, Alex Kral, Tomas Soucek, Andriy Yarmolenko and Declan Rice are all in action on Wednesday night.
Hammers new boy Kral, Coufal and Soucek could be involved as Czech Republic take on Yarmolenko’s Ukraine in a friendly.
While Rice is expected to start as England travel to Poland.
In other news, West Ham will look to sell four players in January claims insider.
And ‘As a West Ham man’ Ex Chelsea star simply can’t believe what Blues have done.