West Ham and Newcastle United target Antonin Barak is perfectly suited to the Premier League and deserves a big move away from Hellas Verona, his former Serie A director Manuel Gerolin tells Tuttomercatoweb.
Barak has come a long way since his time at Udinese.
He fell out of favour at the Stadio Friuli but a move to Hellas Verona has revitalised his ailing Serie A career.
That, by the way, is more than all of Newcastle’s current midfielders have managed put together.
The Magpies haven’t had a genuinely prolific goalscoring midfielder in the top-flight since Gini Wijnaldum’s one-and-only Tyneside season ended in relegation back in 2015/16.
You can see why Barak has plenty of admirers at in the North East then (L’Arena).
As it stands, Premier League rivals West Ham are his most likely destination should Barak depart before the month is out (Tuttomercatoweb).
Will West Ham or Newcastle sign Antonin Barak?
“I was expecting him to reach these levels,” Gerolin, who helped bring Barak to Udinese from Slavia Prague five years ago.
“You could see straight away that he had everything to become a top player. He is a Premier League player; physically and technically.
“He’s the right age to make the leap. And he can improve even more by going to a big league and playing with other champions.”
A move to West Ham would see Barak join fellow Czech Republic internationals Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal and Alex Kral at the London Stadium.
Hellas Verona president Maurizio Setti believes his 6ft 3ins talisman can thrive at one of ‘top five’ clubs in European football.
Barak won’t come cheap, however.
Setti adds that, after his maiden Serie A hat-trick, even £25 million may not be enough these days.
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