West Ham's signing of Tomas Soucek has massively paid off, as the Czech midfielder's value has risen significantly during his time at the London Stadium.

After an impressive loan spell from Slavia Prague, West Ham paid £15m to make Soucek's stay permanent in the summer of 2020, having already paid £4m in loan fees.

The 27-year-old has established a quality partnership in the middle of the park with Declan Rice and was hugely impressive in the 2020/21 campaign, contributing 10 goals and averaging a superb 7.36 rating from WhoScored for his performances.

His performances have dropped slightly since then, as he managed just five goals in the top flight last season but his average rating of 6.97 still ranked him as the third-best performer in David Moyes' side.

Rice was full of praise for his midfield partner in 2021, saying:

“He runs, he’s strong, he runs, he gets in the box, he’s good in the air, he does everything you want a midfielder to do and I think teams are coming up against Tomáš and thinking ‘I don’t want a battle with him today because if we go hard, he’s going to go even harder’.

“Even when we played at Man United in the FA Cup the week before last and he ran 17k in the game! 17k! All the lads were like ‘That’s not normal, Tom!’ and he just smiled at us.

“Honestly, he is unbelievable and with the season he is having he’s going to be our Player of the Year and he absolutely deserves it and he’s an unbelievable lad as well.”

There were reports that Soucek and Moyes had fallen out during the summer and that he could leave the London Stadium, with an asking price of £30m cited, which represents a 64% increase on the £19m total fee that the Hammers paid, which represents excellent business by GSB.

However, he would remain with the club and has, according to WhoScored, been the Hammers' top performer so far this season, which emphasises how important he is in Moyes' side.

While the West Ham board have come under a lot of criticism for signings, or the lack of them, in recent seasons, there is little doubt that Soucek has proven his worth since joining the Irons two years ago.