Yet another name has been thrown into the ring to be linked with a move to West Ham this summer and the latest one is that of Celta Vigo midfielder Stanislav Lobotka.
Lobokta is the teammate of another transfer target for the Hammers, Maxi Gomez, and there are rumours building that Manuel Pellegrini is plotting a £60m double swoop for the duo. Safe to say, the manager will have to offload a few more players before he can think about doing that.
The Hammers need fresh legs in midfield, that's a given and Lobotka has earned quite the reputation for himself while with Celta Vigo and has previously been linked with Paris St Germain and Chelsea though neither move has materialised, despite Vigo's struggles in La Liga last season.
But what do we know about Lobotka and what has he done so far in his fledgling career in football?
Having come through the youth ranks of AS Trencin in Slovakia, Lobotka made his first team debut for his boyhood club in March 2012 and would go on to make 74 appearances for the club, with a loan at AFC Ajax for a season in between.
Three years later, the Slovakian midfielder joined FC Nordsjælland in Denmark and played every game bar one in his first season as he was an immediate regular for his new side but he didn't score a goal in 61 appearances for the side across two seasons.
Spain came calling in 2017 and Lobotka joined Celta Vigo on a five-year contract but Vigo have had a tough couple of seasons since Lobotka joined though he has been a regular again, making 69 appearances so far for the side.
At international level, Lobotka has played for Slovakia from U18s all the way through to the senior side and he has made 14 international appearances so far for the senior side.
There was an incident in 2018, when the 24-year-old was a key member of the Slovakia side, where he was involved in the controversial sacking of manager Jan Kozak.
Lobotka and five other teammates, including Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, broke a team curfew after Slovakia were beaten by Czech Republic in a UEFA Nations League qualifier by heading on a night out after the game. Kozak found out and subsequently resigned ahead of their next fixture against Sweden.
Last season, Lobotka starred for a struggling Celta Vigo side, who narrowly avoided relegation from La Liga. Across the campaign, the midfielder has a passing accuracy of 91% from midfield which will no doubt be of huge importance to Manuel Pellegrini and the midfielder also loves a tackle, making on average 1.7 per game and completing at least one interception per match.
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