Bad news is following West Ham around like a bad smell this year and Arsenal have just added to the aroma.
Big money changed hands between Arsenal and West Ham last summer.
Now it seems it may well do again in the not-too-distant future.
The Hammers sold homegrown captain Declan Rice to the Gunners for a then record £105m in the summer of 2023.
Rice helped Arsenal close the gap on Man City but with no Premier League cigar as yet.
West Ham didn’t do too badly out of the deal, though.
With a portion of the Rice money from north London, West Ham went out and signed an alleged Arsenal target in the shape of Mohammed Kudus.
Kudus has been so good for West Ham – including against the Gunners – the vultures have been circling ever since.
The outstanding Ghanian was a bargain buy at just £38.5m from Ajax.
Kudus enjoyed a stunning debut season and had just started finding his scoring boots when he saw the red mist against Tottenham.
That saw him banned for three games – which looks set to be increased by an additional two or three today.
Ironically that will mean Kudus will be missing when West Ham welcome Arsenal to the London Stadium at the end of the month.
Nothing Sullivan can do to stop new Arsenal Kudus deal
But Arsenal fans may not have to wait much longer to see him playing for them.
Because there’s nothing David Sullivan can do to stop a new Arsenal mega deal with West Ham for Kudus after a new link.
The Mirror has claimed Arsenal are considering selling Leandro Trossard and launching a £90m move for Kudus.
That is seriously bad news for the Hammers and most of the club’s supporters will know why.
What The Mirror don’t know and have not mentioned is the fact there is little West Ham can do to stop the deal happening.
And it would be for less money too.
There has been claim and counter claim about Kudus and a reported release clause in his contract.
Stories around the time he was signing for West Ham claimed he chose the Hammers over Brighton because Sullivan and co agreed to insert a release clause in his deal.
It was confirmed during the last window by a top source inside West Ham that Kudus does indeed have a Hammers release clause.
The clause is reportedly set at £85m but, crucially, is not active until the start of July next summer.
West Ham star has £85m release clause active next summer
Release clauses are not uncommon in the modern game.
Sadly for clubs outside the elite like West Ham, if you want to get top young players like Kudus ahead of other clubs then sometimes you have to bite the bullet and include such clauses.
As with Rice when he signed for Arsenal, every player has their price. So a release clause is just a guarantee of getting certain value for a player.
Set it too low, though, and it could leave owners red-faced.
Kudus changed his agent to close family members in the summer too, another hint he could have his eyes on pastures new.
In an ideal world Kudus does not have a release clause.
But he does. So if Arsenal come along in the summer and trigger his release clause then West Ham can’t stop Kudus leaving.
The only way to do that would be if the Hammers can somehow get him to sign a new and improved deal without a release clause.
It won’t all be plain sailing for the Gunners, though.
Liverpool and Man City have also been linked with the brilliant attacker.
Unfortunately for West Ham it would not be a case of a bidding war, though.
Those clubs would all just meet his £85m trigger and then battle it out over who could offer him better terms or more chance of success.
Galling for Hammers fans but it seems when he eventually returns from suspension, they’ll just have to enjoy watching Kudus while it lasts.
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