Graham Potter already has his work cut out to get a disgruntled West Ham United fanbase back on his side.
Two games down in the brand new Premier League season, and the Hammers find themselves in a miserable rock bottom position, having just shipped five goals to Potter’s ex-employers Chelsea in a humiliating 5-1 home defeat.
With just five wins from 21 games in charge now, the worry will be that the 50-year-old boss is already under significant pressure to turn matters around, or face the earliest boot of the season.
He will surely hope that more transfers in through the door can give him the best possible chance at hanging onto his job post, as the premature relegation candidates continue to be linked with a whole host of exciting names.
West Ham lodge £17.5m bid for new midfielder
The dark clouds hanging over proceedings at the London Stadium could be lifted by a positive incoming or two.
The basement side isare tipped to be in the race to land Raheem Sterling as he navigates a Chelsea exit this summer, while they are also deep in the battle to snap up promising AS Monaco midfielder Soungoutou Magassa, having even submitted a bid for his services.
Another bid has also been lodged by the Hammers to snap up Torino’s midfield ace Ivan Ilic, with Hammers News revealing that the same £17.5m package that was put forward for Magassa – before Nottingham Forest raced ahead of Potter and Co. for the 21-year-old – has now been placed on the table for the Serbian.
The report does state there is no concrete update on whether Ilic would welcome a move to East London, but he is seen as an alternative to the in-demand Magassa.
The 24-year-old might actually be deemed as the better option to pursue, with Potter perhaps winning another Tomas Soucek-style figure by landing the impressive Serbia international.
How Ilic can become Potter’s new Soucek
Soucek might well have been subject to interest from the likes of Everton and Leeds United earlier in the transfer window, but it looks as if the towering midfield presence will remain at West Ham, even as they likely prepare for a tough battle against the drop.
Coming in at 247 games now for the Hammers, it would have been a real shame if the long-standing servant decided he had enough this summer, with a stunning 41 goals and 13 assists also on his side, away from completing his usual forceful midfield duties.
Losing such a much-loved body would have been disastrous, therefore, but Potter will feel more at ease with his midfield options – away from relying on Soucek – if he can snap up Ilic just in time before September’s cut-off, with his well-rounded game drawing some similarities to the Czech icon.
Indeed, from 68 games for current employers Torino, Ilic has displayed a similar strength to Soucek in chipping with goals and assists, with seven strikes and six assists tallied up from those clashes.
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Ilic in Serie A vs Soucek in PL |
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|---|---|---|
|
Stat |
||
|
Games played |
136 |
196 |
|
Games started |
106 |
181 |
|
Goals scored |
9 |
36 |
|
Assists |
10 |
9 |
|
Sourced by Transfermarkt |
||
His former Slavia Prague counterpart does have the boost of scoring 27 more career strikes for West Ham, compared to Ilic’s lesser nine goals in the Serie A, but the correlations between the two don’t end here.
When the 24-year-old was at the peak of his powers in the Italian top-flight, he would forcefully win duels for fun, as seen in his average of 4.6 won per Serie A clash during the 2021/22 campaign for Hellas Verona.
Soucek won five per game last season during 30 Premier League contests, with the duo together perhaps giving the Hammers some well-needed grit centrally to toughen up after a disastrous run of defeats, on top of also being able to offer the likes of Niclas Fullkrug and Jarrod Bowen further up the pitch a helping hand.
After all, football analyst Ben Mattinson has previously heralded Ilic as a “complete” midfielder, while also further waxing lyrical about how “underrated” of a presence he is, strutting his stuff in Serie A.
Soucek has also been showered with the same level of praise, having been once lauded as having “absolutely everything” you need in a midfielder by ex-Irons player David Connolly back in 2021.
Potter will hope he has uncovered this next Soucek by Ilic entering through the door, with the Serbian also being another feel-good presence to steer the club away from relegation doom.
