There is a gaping Mohammed Kudus shaped hole at West Ham right now and it’s given a worrying glimpse of a future without him amid links to the likes of Arsenal.
The way Mohammed Kudus started the season for West Ham nobody could have seen what’s been happening with him coming.
Links to Arsenal, which have emerged this week, yes.
But not the purgatory Kudus finds himself in at West Ham after bust-ups with his manager and the opposition.
The Ghanaian is hands down West Ham’s best player, just like Declan Rice was before him.
And just like Rice, Arsenal are said to want to lure him to north London from the Hammers for big money next summer.
The problem for West Ham is that David Sullivan is powerless to stop Kudus joining the Gunners.
Somewhat ironically it was the sale of Rice to Arsenal for £105m which helped the Hammers buy Kudus for a bargain £38.5m from Ajax last summer.
He will go for more than two times that if Arsenal do come knocking.
As most fans will now by now, Kudus has an £85m release clause which becomes active next July.
So if the Gunners, Liverpool or any other club want him and stump up that amount, it will be out of West Ham’s hands.
Unless he agrees a new deal removing that clause before then of course.
Powerful Kudus post gives hope his heart is still with West Ham after Arsenal link
Kudus has been so good for West Ham and has that air around him that when he’s playing something special could happen.
Every now and then West Ham find a player like that but it gets harder and harder to keep hold of them long-term.
Even at the start of this season Kudus picked up where he left off last term.
Slaloming through the opposition, racking up unprecedented figures for take-ons and dribbles.
It felt like he just needed a goal and he – and West Ham – would catch fire.
But that all-important goal or assist continued to allude Kudus in the opening portion of the season.
The alleged Arsenal target started to cut an increasingly frustrated figure playing out of position on the left.
Fans were critical of Julen Lopetegui for the switch.
And things boiled over when the Spaniard singled out Kudus for criticism at Brentford.
The Hammers star took exception to being told he wasn’t playing for the team and made his feelings clear.
Lopetegui substituted him at half-time and the attacker was seen kicking a chair in the dugout in anger as the team made their way back out for the second half.
Word out of West Ham was that the pair had ‘quickly moved on’.
But fans were worried Lopetegui was risking pushing their best player away.
Kudus got a couple of goals but despite scoring at Spurs, he then had complete head loss as he was sent off.
Many saw it as the player acting out over his frustrations with the manager.
A three-game ban became five this week as the FA extended the suspension to include games against Newcastle and his alleged summer suitors Arsenal after the international break.
Banned Hammers ace Kudus posts message of positivity
It means Kudus won’t have kicked a ball for West Ham in nearly two months when he does return.
When links then emerged of a move to Arsenal this week, things all started to feel a bit ominous.
But a powerful post from Kudus gives hope his heart and mind is still with West Ham after the Arsenal links.
The Hammers ace, who told the FA he felt ‘stressed’ ahead of the Spurs fracas due to troubles with his national side, has taken to X to share an encouraging post.
Kudus is clearly feeling the situation at the moment, but is trying to stay positive.
He will be well aware of the links to Arsenal this week. Make no mistake about that.
So his choice of words and picture should reassure Hammers fans his heart and mind is still very much with them right now.
“Rise above adversity,” Kudus said alongside a picture of himself kicking the ball up in action for West Ham.
This applies to himself in his current predicament and of course West Ham as a team.
Both need to rise above the adversity they are currently facing.
That task is of course made all the more difficult for the Hammers by Kudus’ absence.
He sits out the third of his five-game ban when Everton come to the London Stadium.
West Ham and the club’s fans are furious with the FA for extending the ban.
But it could have been even worse.
One of the three-person panel wanted to hit the Hammers star with a mammoth ban to make an example of him.
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