According to Danny Murphy, if Kalvin Phillips secures his January loan move from Manchester City to West Ham, he could replace Tomas Soucek in the starting line-up.
Murphy, speaking on talkSPORT, emphasised that Phillips, an England international, requires consistent playing time and suggested that joining West Ham could be a beneficial move for the 28-year-old as he aims to solidify his spot in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the upcoming European Championships.
Murphy further noted that despite the impressive performance of summer signing Edson Alvarez, the potential acquisition of Kalvin Phillips by West Ham suggests that the club wouldn’t pursue the move if they didn’t intend to provide Phillips with playing time.
Consequently, Murphy speculates that Czech international Tomas Soucek might be the likely candidate to find himself on the bench at the London Stadium if Phillips joins the squad.
“He’s a talented lad, who needs a platform to play, he’s got an England squad to try and get into and I think this could be a good move for him,” said Murphy on TalkSPORT.
“But when you look at the midfield West Ham have got, I know they’re still in two competitions and there’s going to be quite a few games, but Alvarez has been sensational since he’s come in.”
He added: “My feeling is, Moyes and the club wouldn’t go out on a limb, put the money in if they weren’t going to play him. I think he’ll take Soucek’s place.”
If Soucek ends up being replaced by Kalvin Phillips, it would be unfortunate for him given his excellent performances in recent months. Although he had a somewhat shaky start to the campaign without Declan Rice alongside him, Soucek managed to establish a solid partnership with Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse as the season progressed.