Ex-manager makes '£50m-plus' West Ham transfer claim as terms of Vlasic deal revealed
Alex McLeish has suggested Nikola Vlasic could be "another magical bit of recruitment" from West Ham.
The former Scotland manager, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, suggested a player of the 23-year-old's pedigree could cost £50million-plus from a more prestigious league.
West Ham confirmed the capture of Vlasic on Tuesday morning (31st August).
As revealed by Football Insider (30th August), David Moyes' men were in talks over a deal worth £26million plus add-ons for the Croatia international.
The Hammers also signed Czech Republic international Alex Kral on loan on deadline day.
McLeish insisted the east Londoners had already unearthed some excellent value signings from eastern Europe in Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal.
As such, he suggested Vlasic could be another excellent addition for the Irons.
McLeish told Football Insider's Russell Edge: "You look at West Ham's recruitment, we spoke about the Czech Republic guys.
"Eastern Europe, Croatia, the Serbians, there are pickings, definitely.
"They're not in a market where the players are going to cost £50-60million to £100million.
"They can pick them up for relatively decent money in terms of the revenue of West Ham.
"You've got to say have West Ham done another magical bit of recruitment?
"If he's anything like the other two, the Czech Republic guys Coufal and Soucek, that's some bit of business."
A graduate of Hajduk Split's youth ranks, Vlasic already has Premier League experience under his belt.
He joined Everton in 2017 and made 19 appearances, 12 of which came in the top flight.
He has 27 caps for Croatia under his belt to date.
West Ham signed both Soucek and Coufal from Slavia Prague in 2020.
The midfielder initially joined on loan in January 2020 before turning his move permanent in the summer.
Meanwhile, the full-back joined on a three-year deal during the off-season.