Krisztián Hegyi

Krisztián Hegyi's career has been defined by patience: he left Szombathelyi Haladás for West Ham's academy in 2019 and stayed there until 2026, using spells at Stevenage, FC Den Bosch, Motherwell, Debreceni VSC and MTK Budapest to accumulate first-team minutes elsewhere.

At youth international level, Hegyi built a substantial record with Hungary, collecting 52 caps across the U16, U17, U18 and U21 sides. He was part of the Hungary squad that reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and also played at the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup that year. A first call-up to the senior national team followed in March 2023, though a debut at that level had not materialised by the time he joined Sparta.

The move to Prague closed the West Ham chapter without him ever making a senior league appearance for the Hammers. Reports of a €2 million transfer sum that circulated around the same period actually referred to a teammate, Viktor Vitályos, rather than to Hegyi himself.