Tomas Soucek has arguably been one of the bargains of the century, at least at West Ham.

The Czech Republic enforcer was an unknown quantity when he joined the Premier League side on loan in January 2020 but he soon emerged as a crowd favourite and one of David Moyes' most influential and important players.

That much was obvious when the club committed to their £15m option-to-buy later that summer and ever since then, he's come on leaps and bounds - and so has his value, too.

According to Transfermarkt, Soucek is now worth in the region of £36m, an increase of 223% from April 2020 when he was valued at just £10.8m. And an increase of 140% from what they paid.

You could argue that the Irons have truly hit the jackpot with the 26-year-old, who will only improve considering his age and progressive form under the Scottish boss.

As a box-to-box animal, Soucek has already contributed 14 goals and one assist in his 58 appearances for the club, whilst he ended his first full season in east London as their highest-rated (7.36) player.

Former Hammers striker Marlon Harewood dubbed him the "best signing of the season" during an exclusive interview with Football FanCast. "His stats say everything really when you compare them to anyone else in the league."

He has continued such form into the current campaign, where the Hammers remain unbeaten from their opening four matches and are merely just two points behind league leaders Manchester United, who they will face this weekend.

Soucek is winning a colossal average of three aerial duels (only bettered by centre-back Craig Dawson) and three tackles (second-best to Vladimir Coufal) per game so far in 2021/22, which only goes to show that he is keeping up that level of consistency that not only makes him one of Moyes' key players but may also be why his value has skyrocketed.

Ex-Everton winger Yannick Bolasie once lauded him as "unplayable" and that only further reinforces his impressive ability, whilst Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher described him as "almost a typical David Moyes player" and that he has a "huge impact" next to Declan Rice.

Having been linked with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in recent windows, it's fair to suggest that Moyes and the club's hierarchy struck gold by bringing the 6 foot 4 monster to the London Stadium.

Soucek is thought to only be on £67k-per-week, which is nearly half of what forgotten man Andriy Yarmolenko is earning (£115k-per-week), and when you factor that in with his £15m fee, it's certainly been a massive coup.

AND in other news, David Moyes must now unleash £26m-rated "world-beater" amid devastating West Ham blow...