West Ham United drew 1-1 with Brentford on Saturday, but after the game all the talk was about an apparent bust-up between Mohammed Kudus and Julen Lopetegui.
The West Ham fans were hugely concerned when rumours began circling earlier this week about a rift between Mohammed Kudus and Julen Lopetegui.
After the Brentford game, Lopetegui told reporters that he subbed Kudus off at half-time for tactical reasons, and that seemed wild to me at the time.
The 24-year-old is a match-winner – someone capable of doing incredible things to change games at any given moment.
So why on earth would the West Ham head coach have taken him off for ‘tactical reasons’, when the Hammers were losing 1-0 at the time?
The West Ham fans were asking questions, and it wasn’t long before the Kudus and Lopetegui bust-up story came to light.
Since then, the club have played the rift down, with some insiders suggesting that Lopetegui liked the passion shown from Kudus.
Claret and Hugh claim that the clash between the player and manager was ‘greatly exaggerated’.
Now it seems like the Hammers owners have taken a really unusual step in the aftermath of the incident.
West Ham take Mohammed Kudus action after Julen Lopetegui bust-up
Lopetegui came into the London Stadium in the summer and he made it very clear that he will not accept any kind of unprofessionalism from his players.
The Spaniard is clearly a strict taskmaster – a manager who doesn’t take any rubbish from his players.
So if Kudus did kick off in the dressing room at half-time, Lopetegui obviously wouldn’t have taken kindly to it.
Now though, the club’s hierarchy have apparently taken a highly unusual step regarding the situation.
According to the Athletic, the Hammers owners have actually made contact with Kudus’s representatives regarding the alleged bust-up at half-time on Saturday.
They have apparently made it clear to the Ghana international’s agents that there are no issue between the player and manager.
This just seems so bizarre to me. Surely the player would just contact his own representatives if he needed to?
The only reason why the claim from the Athletic makes sense to me is that if the Hammers owners were keen to assure Kudus’s agents that the incident was exaggerated and that there is no need for them to search for a new club for their client.
Kudus vital for West Ham but he’s being parked here for two years
I personally think that Kudus is being parked here for a couple of seasons, before one of the Premier League giants sign him.
The 24-year-old was spotted watching Arsenal’s clash with PSG at the Emirates on Tuesday night, and it wouldn’t surprise me one little bit if he joined the Gunners next summer.
Kudus joined the Hammers from Ajax in the summer of 2023 for around £38 million.
At the time, it was a huge shock that we managed to win the race for his signature, and he proved last year just how special he is by adapting to the Premier League instantly.
If Julen Lopetegui is to oversee a successful 2024/25 campaign, he needs Mohammed Kudus to be fully fit and firing on all cylinders.
Hopefully the fallout from the so-called ‘bust-up’ is all done and dusted now.
However, I want to warn the Hammers fans that this undoubtedly won’t be the last we hear of it I’m sure that it will rear its ugly head again when the January transfer window opens…
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