West Ham United are reportedly close to signing midfielder Alex Kral during an exciting deadline day.
West Ham had been linked with Spartak Moscow midfielder Kral for much of the summer.
Russia Football News claimed that the Hammers were close to signing Kral on loan with an option to buy on deadline day.
And Hammers insider ExWHUemployee has revealed the loan will have an option to buy at a set price.
West Ham to land much needed competition for Soucek and Rice
Kral will provide much needed competition for Declan Rice and compatriot Tomas Soucek in the middle of the park at the London Stadium should West Ham get the deal over the line.
Before the Euros, West Ham boss David Moyes picked out Kral as one of seven players to watch.
And here is what Moyes had to say about the midfield ace in his column in The Times.
What David Moyes has said about “imminent” West Ham signing Alex Kral
“Kral, who has just turned 23, is a young midfielder, developed at Slavia Prague, who moved to Spartak Moscow,” Moyes told The Times in the summer.
“He is likely to start in the Czech midfield alongside Tomas Soucek and is similar in stature to Tomas, though plays in a slightly different style.
“He is good on the ball and looks to protect his defence and appears to have, like Tomas and (fellow Czech West Ham star) Vladimir Coufal, great mentality and bags of energy.”
In the end the curly-haired 23-year-old did not excel at the Euros.
But he did for Spartak last season. In 29 league outings, the former Slavia Prague teammate of Tomas Soucek registered five assists and averaged 1.5 tackles, 1.8 interceptions, 0.8 clearances and 0.8 dribbles per game.
During those appearances, he made 56 passes per match on average with a completion rate of 81% (WhoScored).
Hammers massively boost squad strength with late arrivals
If West Ham can get the deal for Kral over the line they will have massively boosted their options in the last four days.
On Saturday the Hammers completed the £29m signing of Kurt Zouma.
The on deadline day morning West Ham announced the capture of exciting Croatian attacking midfielder Nikola Vlasic from CSKA Moscow in a deal reportedly worth £30m plus including add ons.
Kral and Vlasic played for bitter Moscow rivals Spartak and CSKA last season but could now join forces in east London.
In other news, ‘No brainer’ South American expert makes claim on West Ham striker interest.
And West Ham in last ditch talks with exciting forward claims insider.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
