West Ham open talks with Slavia Prague over Abdallah Sima

Slavia Prague have confirmed that they have held talks with West Ham United over the sale of star forward Abdallah Sima.

The 19-year-old, who was only promoted to the senior side this season, has exploded on to the scene with 15 goals and six assists from 31 appearances in all competitions, including Europa League strikes against Leicester City and Nice.

West Ham have been monitoring the tall teenager for a while now, with former Slavia man Tomas Soucek confessing he has urged the Hammers to sign Sima, and now manager Jindrich Trpisovsky has revealed talks have been held between the two teams.

"It's hard to say, some contact and offers are going on, Trpisovsky told a press conference. "There is an agreement that if there is interest from some clubs, there is a set price at which he can leave. It will depend on his condition and performance.

"The boys from West Ham said that the scouts have asked about him a lot, they have him high on their list, as well as other clubs. Summer is long, it's possible that an official offer will arrive."

Where that asking price lies is uncertain. Earlier reports suggested Slavia were prepared to hold out for £35m for Sima, but Slavia president Jaroslav Tvrdik took to Twitter to rubbish that rumour.

Whatever fee Slavia throw out, West Ham will likely be interested because of their excellent dealings with the Czech side in the past 18 months.

Midfielder Soucek has been in inspirational form since he first arrived on loan in January 2020, while right-back Vladimir Coufal has been just as impressive this year, and the Hammers are clearly keen to strike gold for a third time.

West Ham are on the lookout for a striker to replace the departed Sebastien Haller, who joined Ajax in January, but Sima is unlikely to fill that void. He has spent time as a central striker but is primarily a right winger, having spent almost the entire season out wide.

Should they choose to push on with a move for Sima, West Ham will have to fend off interest from a number of sides across Europe, with Manchester United and Everton two of many to have scouted the teenager recently.

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