West Ham United will reportedly turn down the chance to permanently sign on-loan midfielder Alex Kral in a £17 million deal in the summer.
According to Football Insider, West Ham United will allow midfielder Alex Kral to return to his parent club in the summer and not capture his signing on a permanent basis.
The 23-year-old Kral joined West Ham United on loan from Russian outfit Spartak Moscow last summer. However, he has had a difficult spell in the east London outfit, having featured just six times across all competitions for the Hammers thus far.
When West Ham United signed the Czech Republic international, they had agreed to include an option of making Kral’s transfer permanent for a fee of around £17 million.
The report states that the permanent clause would get triggered automatically if the midfielder made a certain number of appearances. However, it is claimed that Kral is nowhere close to reaching that number anytime soon, while at the same time, West Ham also have no intention to make his move full-time.
Kral’s lack of game-time does not come as a surprise, considering that manager David Moyes has stuck with Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek as his preferred pair in the middle of the park. In addition to that, the West Ham United boss also has Mark Noble, Manuel Lanzini, Nikola Vlasic, Pablo Fornals as options in the central and advanced midfield positions.
And on the rare occasion that the Spartak Moscow midfielder has gotten an opportunity, the 23-year-old Kral has not made the best impression either. So, West Ham United’s decision to part ways with the midfielder makes a lot of sense.
But the east London giants will also see Noble retire at the end of the season. In addition, Rice’s future continues to be a topic of much debate, amid interest from the top clubs in England and Europe. So, they will need to bring in at least one central midfielder in the summer transfer window later this year.
West Ham are reportedly lining up another offer for Kalvin Phillips after missing out on signing him in January. They are also keeping tabs on PSG star Georginio Wijnaldum, who is keen on returning to the Premier League. So, it remains to be seen who Moyes decides to sign, but Kral will not be moving to the club permanently.