West Ham United right-back Vladimir Coufal is attracting increasing interest ahead of the January transfer window.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by Sky Sports News, who claim that the 30-year-old is attracting the interest of Bayer Leverkusen as well as two unnamed Premier League clubs ahead of the winter window.

However, the report goes on to state that, while David Moyes would be willing to listen to concrete offers for the Czech Republic international, the club may be reluctant to allow any defenders to leave in January due to the club’s injury crisis at the back.

Finally, it is claimed that Coufal – whose current deal at the London Stadium runs until the summer of 2024 – himself remains committed to the Irons, although the full-back is beginning to become frustrated with his lack of regular minutes in east London.

Coufal must go

While it is true that Coufal made an impressive impact upon his £5m arrival at the club back in the summer of 2020 – registering seven assists and averaging a Sofascore match rating of 7.01 in his debut campaign at the London Stadium – considering how poor the right-back has been this season, the argument that he should now be sold is an easy one to make.

Indeed, over his nine Premier League appearances in 2022/23, the £8m-rated man has offered West Ham extremely little going forwards, scoring no goals, registering no assists and creating no big chances, as well as losing possession of the ball an average of 18.1 times per game.

Despite failing to help the Hammers keep a single clean sheet this season, the £35k-per-week defender has returned slightly more palatable numbers at the back, making an average of 1.6 tackles, 1.7 interceptions, 1.6 clearances and winning 3.4 duels – at a success rate of 54% – per match.

However, these metrics do not translate into very positive reading for the 30-year-old’s overall performance, with the player who Trevor Sinclair claimed “hasn’t got a clue” averaging an extremely disappointing Sofascore match rating of just 6.78 – a rather considerable drop from his first campaign with the club.

Furthermore, with the 34-cap international currently keeping Harrison Ashby – West Ham’s highly-rated right-back who is being linked with Newcastle United this winter – out of Moyes’ first-team squad, it would appear to make a great deal of sense for the 59-year-old to move Coufal on and finally unleash the “fearless” – in the words of Sam Delaney – 21-year-old going forwards.

As such, it would indeed appear as if a parting of the ways would suit all parties this winter, with Coufal likely to see more game time upon a departure from the club, while West Ham supporters would get to see much more of one of their club’s most exciting young prospects in the 30-year-old’s place.