David Moyes is hopeful West Ham United will boast two goalscoring midfielders in Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek by the end of the season, via quotes by football.london.
The Irons boss says the club are pushing to see Soucek return to the levels he achieved last term. The Czech Republic international offered a prolific box-to-box presence in his first full Premier League campaign at the London Stadium.
Soucek scored 10 goals in 38 appearances after West Ham paid Slavia Prague £19m to turn his loan spell permanent. But the 26-year-old has only managed to find the back of the net once after seven games this season. He also scored three times in 13 outings while on loan.
Rice, meanwhile, has enjoyed a more adventurous role for West Ham this term, as he eyes a greater box-to-box presence. The England international has produced storming runs up the field and scored twice in the Europa League so far. But is yet to score in the top-flight.
Moyes is confident Soucek will start scoring regularly for West Ham again as the campaign continues. He also hopes Rice can continue and better his strong start.
“I think Tomas gets the praise, certainly internally,” Moyes said. “We’re pushing him hard to get the goals that he got last year. We like his work ethic – we love his work ethic.
“He’s a real threat in the box, as well, so we’re hoping he can get a few more goals to go along with his high running stats.
“Tomas will get his goals as the season goes on. Declan Rice has got other attributes, which will get him goals as well. So, I’m hoping we end up with two midfield players with good goal returns this season.”
Should Soucek’s lesser output worry West Ham?
Soucek’s lesser output so far this season is unlikely to concern Moyes or West Ham yet. The £67k-a-week star has played a lot of club and international football since he first moved to east London. Sitting out just 60-seconds of league action since March 7, 2020.
That’s 54 full top-flight matches from 55, plus 97-minutes at Fulham this February before Mike Dean incorrectly sent him off. On top of playing in the Czech Republic’s last 20 games.
Soucek is likely feeling the strain, which West Ham and Moyes have felt the impact of. But with Rice taking on a more attack-minded role, the Irons should have enough to cope.
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