Scholes wanted to praise Soucek, but failed to do so and rather upset West Ham fans

Tomáš Souček is one of the biggest favourites of West Ham fans, the engine of their midfield. Even the legendary Paul Scholes wanted to praise Soucek, but his compliment sounded a bit strange.

Soucek is quite possibly West Ham’s best transfer in recent years. In his first six months, he helped save the Hammers in the Premier League, and in the following year, with ten goals and amazing performances, he dragged the London side to 6th place in the table.

Although Soucek received some criticism for his poor performances at the beginning of the season, things are slowly returning to normal. West Ham are in fourth place in the Premier League, leading the group in the Europa League and knocking out both Manchester United and Manchester City in the EFL Cup.

After the Citizens’ elimination, two football legends commented on Soucek in the TV studio. “He loves to run into the box, he is always a threat there. Every time I have seen Soucek play, he has either scored a goal or had a great chance,” praised former Manchester United, Liverpool and Real Madrid striker Michael Owen.

Paul Scholes, the Manchester United icon, had a similar sentiment for the West Ham midfielder. But in his mind the words probably sounded better than they looked.

“He reminds me of Everton’s Fellaini. He’s never too involved in the game. In fact, he never actually plays football. But he is absolutely brilliant in both areas,” Scholes said of Soucek.

Although the former great midfielder meant well, his words annoyed West Ham fans. Scholes’ comments were picked apart by Hammers News.

“Soucek takes the ball, distributes it sideways or forwards, nine times out of ten he picks the right tackle. That in itself makes him a first-class midfielder. If you can’t see that, which as a professional you should, just look at his stats. They say he was one of the ten best players in the league,” Hammers News quoted Scholes as saying.

“To say he never plays football is just ridiculous. He’s already twice as good as Fellaini ever was. Scholes’ comment is very strange, even if it was meant as a compliment,” the site dedicated to Hammers news added.

Source: Sky Sports, Hammers News