By Slava Zaitsev Last updated: 29th January 2009
SSN
Czech international Radoslav Kovac has confirmed he is heading to West Ham
after snubbing Celtic. The 29-year-old, who can play in defence or midfield,
is set to join the Hammers on loan from Spartak Moscow with a view to a
permanent £3million move in the summer. He admitted the lure of the Premier
League was the deciding factor for him, as he shunned the possibility of
moving to Glasgow with Celtic. "The last decision was for me to choose West
Ham over Celtic, but my decision was because of the Premier League," he told
Sovietsky Sport. "West Ham's manager and executives want me. "West Ham love
Czechs, they already have Jan Lastuvka and Marek Stech in their squad. "This
year I will be 30 and I only have a few years left before I become known as
a veteran, so I want to realise my dream of playing in one of the main
championships."
Kovac revealed the success of Premier League duo Nemanja Vidic and Roman
Pavlyuchenko - who have both moved to England from Russian clubs - has
spurred him on. "Everyone whom I have asked for advice have told me to go,
and the examples of Vidic and Pavlyuchenko gives me the motivation - they
have both moved to England and succeeded there," he said. Kovac says the
whole move had come about very quickly. "Everything happened on Wednesday,"
he added. "My agents recently started to actively work and they found a few
options, but I never really thought my pre-season with Spartak now would be
my last one. "I haven't even had chance to say goodbye to my team-mates, but
I have had a call to say everything is ready and my ticket to London is
booked."
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Kovac confirms Hammers move
KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 29th January 2009
By: Staff Writer
Czech midfielder Radoslav Kovac has been talking about his impending move to
West Ham United. The 29-year-old Czech international is joining the Hammers
on loan for the rest of the season with view to making the deal permanent in
the summer, as revealed on KUMB.com yesterday.
Kovac, who is set to fly to England in order to rubber-stamp his move within
the next 24 hours could be involved in the squad that faces Arsenal at the
Emirates last week alongside United's other new boy Savio Nsereko, who made
his debut in last night's 2-0 win against Hull City. Talking to Sovietsky
Sport, Kovac confirmed that he rejected a number of other offers in order to
play in the Premier League. "The last decision was for me to choose West Ham
over Celtic, but my decision was because of the Premier League. "West Ham's
manager and executives want me. West Ham love Czechs, they already have Jan
Lastuvka and Marek Stech in their squad. "This year I will be 30 and I only
have a few years left before I become known as a veteran, so I want to
realise my dream of playing in one of the main championships. "Everyone whom
I have asked for advice have told me to go, and the examples of Vidic and
Pavlyuchenko gives me the motivation - they have both moved to England and
succeeded there."
Kovac - who has been on Gianfranco Zola's hit-list for some time - confirmed
that the deal had been completed in little more than a day - less than 72
hours after the Hammers sold Hayden Mullins, whom Kovac will effectively
replace, to Portsmouth. "Everything happened on Wednesday," he added. "My
agents recently started to actively work and they found a few options, but I
never really thought my pre-season with Spartak now would be my last one. "I
haven't even had chance to say goodbye to my team-mates, but I have had a
call to say everything is ready and my ticket to London is booked."
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