Last November, Sky Deutschland stated Bayer Leverkusen showed interest in signing West Ham United’s Vladimír Coufal in the winter market.
It was also stated the Bundesliga side were planning on holding talks with the 30-year-old in London. However, no deal took shape in the last window.
During an interview with Sport.cz, the West Ham right-back has confirmed he held talks with Leverkusen over a potential move, before deciding to not take the step.
“There was interest, people from the club came to see, some negotiations took place. But it was a standard market demand, nothing to do with me leaving. At Bayer, they were deciding whether Jeremie Frimpong would leave, I wasn’t that busy at the time,” he said.
“Of course, it attracted me in a way, Leverkusen is an elite German team, there are two Czech boys in the squad, they play interesting football. But maybe it would be a step back.
“Not from a team point of view, but from a competition point of view, the Premier League is the best in my eyes. So, I preferred to stay in England. I’m happy to have earned a place in the West Ham squad.”
The Czech Republic international lost his place at West Ham in September and that didn’t change until after the World Cup.
Coufal’s situation has improved since the World Cup and he’s been a regular for West Ham, until he picked up an injury a month ago. He joined the Premier League side in 2020 [during the global pandemic] and has now adapted to life in London.
“Not much can surprise me, it will be three years and I don’t think anything can take me off guard. My wife and I feel much better, after covid our family started visiting us. We even got used to moving every year, which doesn’t seem normal to me, but my wife enjoys it, so at least someone does (smile),” Coufal explained.
West Ham’s poor run in the league this season sees them sitting 18th in the table. The defender can’t explain why the Hammers have struggles and doesn’t want to think of his side dropping to the Championship.
“None, I can’t understand it. Maybe the summer transfer window didn’t suit us, when a lot of new players arrived and we needed time,” the fullback stressed.
“We had a certain style that now has to be dug up and probably everything hasn’t fit yet. But I’m definitely not saying that it’s only the newcomers’ fault. In addition, we stopped scoring goals, we conceded a lot simply, after our own mistakes.
“I don’t even want to think about it [relegation], I don’t know. As I say, we don’t think about it at all, so we can’t even imagine such a situation.
“We just have to save ourselves and we want to succeed in the Conference League. …when you make a streak of three wins, which is very difficult in England, you are out of it. We are not losing faith, there is no reason.”
