Slavia Prague president Jaroslaw Tvrdik admitted that he has been inundated by messages from West Ham United fans begging him to cash in on Abdallah Sima and Ondrej Kolar, while speaking to iSport.
After selling Thomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal to the Hammers, Slavia might have wondered whether they had the requisite quality to go toe-to-toe with Leicester City in the Europa League knockout stages.
But with Sima’s stunning strike securing a place in the last-16 during last week’s shock 2-0 win at the King Power, Tvrdik should brace himself for yet more speculation.
As long as Slavia continue to impress on the continent, players like Sima and Kolar will be sticking around in the gossip columns.
Interestingly enough, both have been linked with West Ham in recent weeks.
The Athletic claim that Kolar, a 26-year-old goalkeeper, has been lined up as a £10 million replacement for Lukasz Fabianski, while Sima’s long-range rocket away at Leicester will have done his chances of joining Coufal and Soucek in London no harm at all (Mirror, January 8, page 53).
“In the winter, we received an offer of £9 million (for Sima) from the leading Premier League clu. But we wouldn’t sell him for £20 million. We now know about summer offers that range from £20 to £25 million,” said Tvrdik, Slavia’s outspoken president.
“We have an agreement that, with an adequate offer, (Sima) can leave after the season. But now we are talking about extending his contract for another year.
“Thousands of West Ham fans write to me – no exaggeration. They ask when Sima or Kolar will come.
“They feel that they should have a pre-emptive right. But this is not the situation, we do not have a partnership. Maybe we will reach it in time.”
Slavia’s stance is clear.
Just because Coufal and Soucek have made a huge impression in England, that does not mean Sima and Kolar are destined to follow in their footsteps.
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