West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse has been hailed as “World-Class” by teammate Vladimir Coufal.
The signing of Ward-Prowse was met with a mixed reception. It was a mixture of some fans being happy with the signing and some being underwhelmed with how the Declan Rice money was being spent.
However, the former Southampton midfielder has quickly won the whole fan base over in his first few games at the club. He’s been borderline unplayable with 4 goal involvements in 3 Premier League games this season.
One thing we all expected though was brilliant set pieces and he hasn’t disappointed. He set up the winner for his side against Luton with a beautiful corner onto the head of Kurt Zouma.
Unsurprisingly, his teammates have been full of praise for him but no one more than Vladimir Coufal. “I don’t have to say how good he is, everybody in the Premier League and the UK and maybe all over the world knows who James Ward-Prowse is, from his free-kicks and corners,” the Czech international stated.
“He is absolutely world class. He reminds me of Andrea Pirlo or Juninho,” he stated, as reported by the Daily Mail. “He chooses the spot in the box and he delivers exactly to that spot. It is easy for him. His kicking technique is absolutely amazing.”
This is truly the biggest compliment to pay to a midfielder, being compared to two of the greatest players in that position.
Coufal also went on to talk about how much of a boost winning the Conference League in June has given the whole squad. “After winning the conference league we gained a lot of confidence,” he confirmed. “Now we are playing like we feel bigger, with confidence, we trust each other, our process, our football. We are keeping together. It is bringing the fruits and bringing the points. We don’t want to change anything. But, to be absolutely honest, I didn’t expect 10 points from these four games.”
“To be honest he [David Moyes] said even before the game he wants to be top of the league before the international break.”
He finished by saying “it is a very good start for us. I am saying let’s get 30 more points and then we can speak,” about pushing on to fight at the right end of the table.
James Ward-Prowse has certainly won fans over and, while being on the same level as Pirlo might be a bit of an exaggeration, it’s clear to see exactly why Coufal has only good things to say about him. He’s already a nailed on starter for Moyes and he seems to compliment fellow midfielder Edson Alvarez extremely well. It’s hard to imagine a better replacement for Declan Rice than those two.
By Charlie Bass
