He last played in February against a team from the sixth league, yet now Alex King has been called up to the national team!

Today, the Czech national football team announced changes in the nomination on its official website. The changes have caused a stormy reaction among fans. Pavlenka is out of the line-up and his place will be filled by Ales Mandous. However, the main news is that Alex Kral has also been added to the nomination.

Jiri Pavlenka, who was promoted to the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen last season, has dropped out of the Czech national football team due to illness. The reason for his absence is illness.

“Jiří Pavlenka is unfortunately ill, so we contacted Ales Mandous at the end of last week, ” explained Czech national team manager Tomáš Pešír to the Czech national team website.

Besides Ales Mandous, Alex Král was also added to the nomination, which logically caused a stormy reaction from all fans. Král played only 536 minutes last season, 243 of which were in Spartak Moscow.

After he headed on loan to West Ham on 31 August 2021, he played only 293 minutes. King made his last start on 5 February in the FA Cup against Kidderminster Harriers, who play in England’s sixth highest competition.

West Ham were 0-1 down after the first half and King was substituted at half-time.

Besides, in his last games in the national jersey he looked tragic and was one of the worst players. His nomination makes a mockery of other Czech footballers. Jaroslav Šilhavy, the national coach, explained his nomination as follows.

“Alex Kral’s workload at West Ham last season was not as we and Alex would have liked. But we know that he gave all the more to training. Moreover, he trained every day with players who finished seventh in the best league in the world,” Šilhavy also told the national website.

“We want to see him and have him in the team for two weeks. He has convinced us of his potential in the past and we all wish him to have more successful seasons and help the national team,” he concluded.

Sources: Transfermarkt, Czech national football team