Tomas Soucek has been quite a revelation since joining West Ham from Slavia and has forged a very nice partnership with Declan Rice in the centre of the park for the Hammers. The Czech star has been fantastic in his role as a box to box midfielder, and technical data has now revealed that he was second in the list for average distance covered in the 2019/20 Champions League season.
Soucek featured in all six of Slavia Prague’s Champions League games last season and played every minute of their CL campaign in 2019/20. In those games, he covered an average distance of 12.69 km, the second highest among the competition’s players, as shown in the stats below. The top performer was also a Slavia player (Petr Sevcik with 13.47), while Inter’s Marcelo Brozovic, the 2018/19 season winner, came third with 12.48.
The list also features new Hammers right back Vladimir Coufal in 7th at 11.76 km, a rare entry for a defender in a list dominated by midfielders. Coufal also finished 11th in the list for most sprints (49.67), above the likes of Andy Robertson, Robin Gosens and Serge Gnabry.
(Data for players involved in five games or more in the UCL last season)
Soucek also scored two goals in the UCL last season, but his Slavia side, put in the Group of Death alongside Barcelona, Inter and Dortmund, failed to make it out of the group stages. Both of Slavia’s points however came in away draws- a 1-1 against the Nerazzurri at the San Siro, and a goalless stalemate against Barca at the Nou Camp.
Soucek’s been an absolute steal. Great engine, top, top signing.
Coufal also very encouraging in what we’ve seen so far this season.