West Ham United right-back Vladimir Coufal has been linked with interest from Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen over a potential January move.
Reports from Sky in Germany claim that talks are due to take place this week between Leverkusen and Coufal’s representatives ahead of a potential move in January, with the Czech Republic defender’s contract currently due to run until the end of the season, although West Ham have the option to extend it by two years, should they wish to.
However, football.london understands there is nothing in the links between Coufal and the German club at present.
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The initial report states that Leverkusen will be in the market for a new right-back, with former Celtic defender Jeremie Frimpong playing in a more attacking role and former Manchester United defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah set to leave the club in the winter transfer window.
Coufal has played 17 times in all competitions this season, although only half of those minutes have come in the Premier League. The defender has played just 92 minutes in West Ham’s last eight league games, playing the duration in last month’s draw at Southampton due to an injury crisis and two against Bournemouth off the bench, where he won a penalty that led to a Said Benrahma goal.
He has recently found game time in the league tough to come by, with summer signing Thilo Kehrer and academy graduate Ben Johnson preferred to Coufal at right-back in recent weeks.
Since his arrival from Slavia Prague in January 2020, Coufal has played 87 times in all competitions, with 71 of those outings coming in the Premier League where he has provided 11 assists.
Coufal will be on duty alongside West Ham teammate Tomas Soucek and former Hammers loanee Alex Kral on Wednesday in a friendly against Faroe Islands, before heading to Turkey on Saturday.
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