Vydra scored for Burnley today to continue his good run of form. I believe his little contribution last season also came in the second half of that campaign. Burnley are usually staggering along under Dyche at this point anyways, so he’s at least capitalized on his annual tryout that comes once all possible scoring solutions have been exhausted. To his credit, Vydra has appeared to rejuvenate what has always been a stale attacking side even if his scoring rate is still atrocious.
Most of the time Vydra is premier league Masopust, he works hard and often looks like he will do something good, but then only succeeds 10% of the time. He does seem to be improving last few weeks though.
Mateju scored for Brescia today and had an assist last week, but was benched prior to that. His direct competition for a roster spot, Novak, is playing somewhat regularly at Fenerbahce. Based on recent Silhavy selections, Mateju probably has the edge right now. West Ham won again and are in an impressive fourth place. Coufal had an assist and Soucek had to play without his usual midfield partner Rice, who is out injured. Will be interesting to see how his role changes and if his production is impacted as a result. Hoping to post more frequent updates on this thread in the lead up to the Euros.
Some Premier League productivity yesterday: Vydra scored while Soucek and Coufal each had an assist. Another rare goalscorer was Stefan Simic, who looks to be having a good comeback season at Hajduk Split according to his match log. He’s realistically a reserve list player, but having witnessed the current decline of Brabec and Celustka, he probably should be in the mix for that fourth CB spot. I think he’ll become a more regular squad member post Euros. In Russia, Kral returned from injury and started for Spartak.
Czech-Russian relations are in a sort of crisis after we announced their spies were responsible for a munitions explosion in 2014. It probably wouldn't impact a footballer, but sort of escalating war of words with us expelling 18 diplomats, then they expelled about1/3 of our embassy staff.
Vaclik is set to leave Sevilla this summer as his contract expires. He’s indicated that no discussions of renewing it have taken place and also more or less ruled out a return to Sparta. At 32, I definitely think he still has a few more solid years in him to play abroad, but not for a team as big as Sevilla. I’m sure a mid-table side in one of the top leagues would sign him.
The Sparta rumors were a non-starter, Nita is basically the same age and far from the biggest issue they have. I think Vaclik will try to stay in Spain, just based on how much he seemed to like living in Seville and effort he put into the language.
I think in the last month Adam Hlozek has been linked with half the teams in Europe. My opinion lasts year was that Dortmund have an inside track due to the relationship with Rosicky, but now its hard to say.
I mentioned in the league thread that Norwegian champions Bode/Glimt were rebuffed in an attempt to sign Dominik Plestil from Jablonec, which would have been a more or less lateral move anyway. They apparently had a scout looking for young talent in the Czech Republic as they are set to sign Tomas Rataj a promising 18-year-old player on relegation bound Opava. This is an excellent move for all involved (except maybe Opava if they want to make it back to the top flight). Another upcoming move is Zdenek Ondrasek back to Poland after a poor season back in the league after a decade. His move to Plzen always seemed odd to me as Beauguel is a similar attribute striker... well I understand why he made the move as he wanted to be on the national team radar... but for Plzen it made no sense and ultimately set him up for failure.
I think Hlozek should leave in the summer. I don’t really have a preference as to where because any of the top clubs reportedly interested would be exciting destinations for him. It’s a shame he didn’t play a full season as his production stats would’ve been insane at his current pace. I could also see a big club signing him during the next window and then loaning him back to Sparta for another year.
Not exactly a new rumour, but perhaps one gaining more momentum now is the possibility of Krmencik returning to the Czech Republic. He’s being linked with Sparta (not really new) and Slavia (this is kind of new) at the moment. Another Czech abroad that Sparta are potentially interested in is Mateju. I think that’d be a good move for both the team and player.
Krmencik scored a 90th minute goal that won PAOK the Greek Cup over Olympiakos. The highlight is a very vintage Krmencik move using positioning and pace to latch onto a through-ball then finishing with confidence. Michael #Krmenčík takhle rozhodl finále řeckého poháru v 90. minutě.Zamíří teď do Slavie, Sparty, nebo zůstane v zahraničí? 🧐pic.twitter.com/B0wS3yMtLy— David Pletánek (@DavidPletanek) May 23, 2021 I'm not sure where I think his career is going, I thought he was sort of done after his last injury honestly, but he is showing signs of life again and likely moving to one of the Slavia or Sparta next season.
Vaclik played his last match with Sevilla, a 1-0 win that gave them a record league point total. Was probably his best match for them since the knee injury, although that's not hard as he was not playing often and looked very physically limited when he did. Be interesting to see where he lands next, if he wants to stay in Spain and be a starting keeper it will be lower mid-table at best I suspect.
I’d imagine there will be interest in basically every relevant country. He’s an established international player that I’m sure many clubs would sign on a free transfer. I think he’s most likely to remain in Spain, but any destination wouldn’t really surprise me honestly. The latest rumour I saw was that Besiktas are interested.
Well... .if tweets and fan comments are to be believed, Besiktas are interested in just about everyone with a pulse and a decent match performance this decade ("Come to Beskitas!! <insert 3 thumbs up and a Turkish Flag>"). For Vaclik it at least seems like a reasonably realistic destination.
Haha yeah, the easiest way to confirm the slightest transfer rumour to Turkey is to check the comments and replies on the player’s social media.. A good move in all seriousness though. Very likely that all three of our national team goalkeepers are on the move this summer. I can’t see Pavlenka remaining with Werder Bremen in the 2. Bundesliga
Theo officially leaves Werder Bremen after 9 seasons and nearly 300 appearances. A club legend, leaving in the just about the worst of circumstances. Barring a sudden change in negotiations his next stop is going home to Slovan Liberec.
Unless they plan on selling Rice not sure where Kral would fit at West Ham. Also think he should be at a more possession focused squad in general. Seems like their biggest focus would be making Lingard a permanent transfer.
Michal Sadilek is having a news day, after being given the final Euro roster spot news is coming in that his agent is in talks with VFL Wolfsburg. Sadilek's contract is with PSV of course, but he just finished an interesting loan with Liberec. Interesting in that he arrived looking very much like a youth player and got better as the team steadily got worse (mainly due to having half their roster in loans that ended mid-season).
That seems like somewhat of a big jump. If he had played this past season at PSV, then that rumour wouldn’t be as much of a shock, but still an interesting possibility with the potential van Bommel connection.
I didn't realize Wolfsburg were quite as successful this year as they were when I first saw the reports. Not sure I see Sadilek as quite ready for a Champions League level German team, more a mid-table level right now.