The deal which takes Antonin Kinsky to West Ham United comes 12 months after the Czech Republic glovesman marked his Tottenham Hotspur debut with a stellar display against Liverpool in the EFL Cup.
A rare domestic positive in a miserable 2024/25 campaign, and a flying start which the £12.5 million signing from Slavia Prague would struggle to build upon.
Spurs won 1-0 on that January night – Lucas Bergvall putting Ange Postecoglou’s team within touching distance of the EFL Cup final – with Antonin Kinsky the star of the show. The talk of Tottenham town.
As West Ham reportedly close in on the Spurs goalkeeper – The Sun report that talks are underway regarding an initial loan deal – the hope in East London will be that they get the Kinsky who blossomed against Liverpool rather than the one whose fumbles cost Tottenham dear against Aston Villa and Newcastle.
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A mistake? Or a masterstroke?
West Ham United, though, are getting themselves a 22-year-old shot-stopper with unshakeable self-confidence, an insatiable desire to flatten those weaknesses, and one who may feel he has a point to prove.
Antonin Kinsky made a ‘phenomenal’ start at Tottenham as West Ham United chase him a year on
That stellar debut against Liverpool a year ago was the first of only 11 appearances Kinsky has made for West Ham’s bitter London rivals.
A magnificent reaction save to deny a pirouetting Darwin Nunez was the highlight of his debut. The highlight of his entire Tottenham career, really.
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“He was phenomenal, honestly,” Spurs striker Dominic Solanke told Sky Sports at full-time. “He came three days ago and one or two training sessions with us.
“To look that comfortable out there and confident, I can’t give him enough credit. He looked like a natural out there, like he had been training with us for years, especially at his age as well.”
“[Kinsky] handled himself outstandingly’, Ange Postecoglou said, while club legend Clive Allen called it one of the best debuts he had seen in recent years.
The honeymoon, though, would last only a few weeks.
Liverpool would come roaring back in the second-leg of that semi-final, winning 4-0 at Anfield. Kinsky gifted Arne Slot’s team their second of a thumping victory as he hared off his line and fouled a stampeding Nunez. Another error would come as Spurs exited the FA Cup, palming a Jacob Ramsey shot into his own net.
And in what is likely to be his final appearance for Tottenham, Kinsky misjudged Fabian Schar’s opener and then found himself in no-mans land as Nick Woltemade headed Newcastle into the next round of the Carabao Cup.
Errors litter Spurs spell but Kinsky has been likened to Petr Cech and Manuel Neuer
After West Ham opened the door for Mads Hermansen to leave after only a few months and five appearances, there is very little evidence in Kinsky’s Tottenham spell to suggest he would be much of an upgrade.
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The Hammers are taking a risk. But a calculated one, perhaps, on a 22-year-old goalkeeper playing behind a usually-ramshackle Tottenham backline.
One who has drawn comparisons with Manuel Neuer and even Czech legend Petr Cech. One who kept 20 clean sheets in 30 games for Slavia Prague, and who possesses a passing range many midfielders would be proud of.
From Tomas Soucek to Vladimir Coufal and El Hadji Malick Diouf, meanwhile, West Ham’s track record when it comes to signing players from the Czech Republic speaks for itself.
“He’s a big pro. He works on himself all the time,” Martin Shejbal, who worked with Kinsky at Pardubice in 2023/24, told BBC Sport following his move to Tottenham. “He got to the top thanks to the fact that he works harder and more than other players and goalkeepers.”
“He is open to alternative methods of everything. We spent hours talking about various ways of preparation.
“It’s not always easy for a coach to work with a player like that, because sometimes what he did was not right. On the other side, exactly that mentality makes him an exceptional person and it helped him to achieve what he did.
“I would rather say there are similar personalities [between he and Chelsea icon Cech],” Shejbal added. “Cech was a great professional. When he did some mistakes in the national team’s games, he never really made a victim out of himself, he would not be drowned in regret. Kinsky is the same.”
“I expect him to become a really quality Premier League goalkeeper.”
“He’s a bit like Petr Cech in that he’s very goal-orientated,” agreed Karol Tvaroh, a Czech pundit who spoke to The Athletic last year. “He really has a good filter, which helps in this world of social media. It allows him not to listen to that noise and just to focus on his craft.
“But I think his biggest strength is how he can influence the team. That might be quite abstract, but I believe goalkeeping can have an aura. Kinsky’s saves calm his team-mates down because at times it seems like there’s no way he can concede.”
Kinsky could bring a new dimension to Nuno Espirito Santo’s side
So that’s Cech and Neuer, two of the best and most influential goalkeepers of the 21st century. Good company to keep, certainly, even if Kinsky has barely even scratched the surface of their acheivements.
Those Neuer comparisons emerged largely because Kinsky, when his Slavia Prague team were in possession, would often position himself outside of the penalty box. A ‘sweeper keeper’, of sorts.
A goalkeeper/playmaker, the type of which they hoped they were getting in Hermansen, and clearly don’t have in the old-school Alphonse Areola.
“He reminds me of Manuel Neuer,” a scout for an unnamed Bundesliga team told The Athletic. “His style has some differences, but he seems bigger than he really is. He has presence and gives off a sense of not being afraid.”
Considering the environment Antonin Kinsky is set to walk into at West Ham, and considering the doubts surrounding him following a few high-profile errors down the road at Tottenham, the youngster’s famed self-belief may be needed more than ever.
Interestingly, Cech actually scouted Kinsky on behalf of Chelsea when he was playing for the Czech Republic’s Under-16 side. The Blues would not make a move, but the teenager earned himself an admirer in his nation’s greatest-ever glovesman.
“You could see that he was strong, with his feet,” Cech told Flashscore, Kinsky already mastering something his idol never really got to grips with in the Pep Guardiola-influenced era.