West Ham United will not unearth David Moyes’ new Tomas Soucek in a £16million January swoop for Spartak Moscow midfielder Alex Kral.

What’s the word?

According to Russian football expert Artur Petrosyan, the Irons are in the hunt for Kral’s signature come the mid-season market as they look to reunite Soucek with his Czech Republic partner.

Kral and Soucek enjoy a strong partnership in the Czech national side following their previous time spent together with Slavia Prague, where they won the 2018/19 Fortuna Liga title and Czech Cup in a double-winning campaign.

Slavia sold Kral to Spartak Moscow that summer for €12m (£10.7m), returning two assists in 39 appearances having started all but one of his outings to date across all competitions for the Premier Liga side.

But Soucek may soon be reunited with Kral, as Spartak are open to a winter deal at €18m (£16.1m) if they are forced to sell the 22-year-old who is under contract through to 2024 on a circa-€1m-a-year (£17.2k-p/w) deal.

West Ham have enjoyed great success from their initial decision to sign Soucek on loan in January, with the 25-year-old starting 21 of his 22 Premier League appearances and offering four goals, while recording the joint-most shots (20) by an Irons player this term.

Kral is not Soucek 2.0

While Moyes has seen Soucek flourish since his arrival in England, West Ham would not be signing a comparable product in Kral, who is nicknamed the “Czech David Luiz”.

While Soucek boisterously strides between the lines at the London Stadium, Kral is much more a defence-first type who has earned 38 of his 39 Spartak Moscow appearances in the holding midfield role, while playing at centre-half once.

The 16-time international only opened his account for assists this August and is yet to score for the Russian outfit, as well, having netted just once in 30 outings for Slavia Prague.

But Kral does the defensive work to a high level, with SofaScore data showing an average of 6.1 duels won (3.9 ground, 2.2 aerial), 1.9 interceptions and 1.5 tackles per game in the Russian top-flight from the 6 ft 1 enforcer this season.

He completes 72% of his attempted dribbles, too, for 1.2 a game and keeps possession well with an 82% pass accuracy rating, including 87% in Spartak territory and 0.9 key balls a game. Though where Kral lacks is in playing the ball long, with his pass success dropping to 49% and 48% for chipped passes, and for shots, with just 0.4 a game.

Those are areas were Soucek fares far better, with a 77% completion rate for long balls in the Premier League, while offering 1.7 shots a game.

AND in other news, West Ham must bite the bullet and get rid of a £40k-p/w “good character” facing an uncertain future.