Tomáš Souček

Tomáš Souček (born 27 February 1995) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club West Ham United and the Czech Republic national team.

Tomáš Souček
Souček with Czech Republic in 2019
Personal information
Full name Tomáš Souček[1]
Date of birth (1995-02-27) 27 February 1995
Place of birth Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team
 West Ham United
Number 28
Youth career
2013–2014 Slavia Prague
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2020 Slavia Prague 114 (31)
2015 → Viktoria Žižkov (loan) 14 (0)
2017 → Slovan Liberec (loan) 12 (0)
2020 → West Ham United (loan) 13 (3)
2020– West Ham United 22 (8)
National team‡
2013–2014 Czech Republic U19 9 (0)
2015 Czech Republic U20 1 (0)
2016–2017 Czech Republic U21 13 (2)
2016– Czech Republic 29 (4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:15, 3 February 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 03:40, 19 November 2020 (UTC)

Club career

Slavia Prague

Souček made his league debut on 8 March 2015 in Viktoria Žižkov's 1–2 Czech National Football League home loss against FC Fastav Zlín. He scored his first league goal on 16 August 2015 in Slavia Prague's 4–0 home win against FC Vysočina Jihlava.

Souček broke into the Slavia Prague first team in 2015 and played 29 out of 30 league matches in the 2015–16 Czech First League for them. However, in the 2016–17 season, his position in the first team was lost due to the arrival of Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui and Souček played only 93 minutes in three months between September and December 2016.[2] He went on loan to Slovan Liberec during the winter transfer window.[3]

On 9 May 2018, he played as Slavia Prague won the 2017–18 Czech Cup final against Jablonec.[4]

In the 2018–19 season, he won the domestic double with Slavia Prague and was awarded the Czech First League Player of the Year award.[5] On 17 June 2019, Souček extended his contract with Slavia Prague until 2024.[6]

West Ham United

On 29 January 2020, Souček joined Premier League side West Ham United on an initial loan deal until the end of the 2019–20 season, with an option to make the transfer permanent in the summer.[7] On 1 July, he scored his first goal for West Ham in a 3–2 win against Chelsea, having had a goal disallowed earlier in the same half by VAR.[8] In West Ham's following league match, he scored again to give his team a 2–1 lead against Newcastle United, in an eventual 2–2 away draw.[9] West Ham announced the permanent signing of Souček on 24 July 2020 on a four-year contract, for a fee of around €21 million (£19 million).[10] In August 2020, he was awarded the Czech Golden Ball.[11] On 1 January 2021, Souček scored the first Premier League goal of 2021 as West Ham beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park.[12]

International career

After representing the Czech Republic in several youth categories, he made his debut for the senior side on 15 November 2016 in a friendly match against Denmark. He made his competitive debut on 10 June 2017 in Czech Republic's 1–1 away draw against Norway in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. He appeared in all three matches of the Czech Republic Under-21 team on the 2017 UEFA Under-21 Championship.[13]

Style of play

Souček has built a reputation as an energetic box-to-box midfielder with both defensive and attacking qualities.[7] He is also known for his strong physical presence thanks to his 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) frame.[7] He was likened to Marouane Fellaini by José Mourinho due to his heading ability from set-pieces.[14]

Career statistics

Club
As of 3 February 2021[15]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Slavia Prague 2015–16 Czech First League 29720——317
2016–17 Czech First League 701050—130
2017–18 Czech First League 2734080—393
2018–19 Czech First League 341323132—4918
2019–20 Czech First League 1780082122612
Total 11431933441215840
Viktoria Žižkov (loan) 2014–15 Czech Second League 14000——140
Slovan Liberec (loan) 2016–17 Czech First League 12010——130
West Ham United (loan) 2019–20 Premier League 133———133
West Ham United 2020–21 Premier League 22820——248
Total 35112000003711
Career total 174421233441222051

International goals
Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Souček goal.[16]
List of international goals scored by Tomáš Souček
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
18 November 2017Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha, Qatar Iceland1–02–1Friendly
210 September 2018Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, Russia Russia1–31–5
310 September 2019Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica, Montenegro Montenegro1–03–0UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
418 November 2020Doosan Arena, Plzeň, Czech Republic Slovakia1–02–02020–21 UEFA Nations League B

Honours

Club

Slavia Prague[17]

Czech Republic

Individual

References
  1. "2020/21 Premier League squads confirmed". Premier League. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  2. "RENTGEN: Štít Ngadeu? Řešení z nouze, které nyní táhne Slavii". iSport.cz. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  3. "Mám se vrátit do Slavie, víc neřeším, říká Souček před odletem na Euro". iDNES.cz. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  4. "Jablonec 1–1 Slavia Prague - Liga 2017/2018". footballdatabase.eu. Football Database. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  5. "Nejlepším hráčem sezony je záložník Souček, koučem Trpišovský". iDNES.cz. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  6. "Slavia roste, Tvrdík z toho někdy nespí. Cílem je LM i skončit bez ztráty". iSport.cz. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  7. "West Ham United complete loan signing of Czech midfielder Tomáš Souček". West Ham United FC. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  8. "West Ham 3-2 Chelsea: Yarmolenko hits injury-time winner". 1 July 2020 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  9. Edwards, Luke; Bull, J. J. (5 July 2020). "West Ham remain in relegation trouble after twice throwing away lead against Newcastle". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  10. "West Ham United complete €21m permanent Tomáš Souček transfer". West Ham United. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  11. Záložník Souček poprvé vyhrál anketu Zlatý míč ČR o fotbalistu sezony, ksn.cz, Retrieved 5 August 2020 (in Czech)
  12. "Soucek scores first goal of 2021, West Ham beats Everton". SportsNet. 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  13. s.r.o., eSports. "Tomáš Souček | Reprezentace | FOTBAL.CZ". Fotbal.cz. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  14. "Jose Mourinho: West Ham lucky to draw; David Moyes has found his 'new Marouane Fellaini' in Tomas Soucek". Skysports. 19 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  15. "T. Souček". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  16. "Souček, Tomáš". National Football Teams. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  17. "In Profile – Tomáš Souček". West Ham United FC. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  18. "China PR vs. Czech Republic". soccerway.com. Soccerway. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  19. "Souček jasným KRÁLEM! Záložník se po skvělé sezoně stal Fotbalistou roku". isport.blesk.cz (in Czech). CNC. 22 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  20. "Záložník Souček poprvé vyhrál anketu Zlatý míč ČR o fotbalistu sezony". ksn.cz (in Czech). KSN. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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