It was always going to be tricky to keep Mohammed Kudus at West Ham after next summer. The Release clause that the Hammers kept quiet last Sumer until after its expiry cannot be buried again. £85 million next Summer will see Starboy leave and I’m sure that has been factored into The Hammers’ finances and PSR position. Only in the event of European Qualification was it likely that Kudus might be tempted to stay.
Now the clues are there that at least three separate parties are planning a Kudus bid in January. Recalling how Kudus told his brother (who is his agent also) to ‘get him out’ of London Stadium and approach Liverpool it’d be possible to take one or even two stories with pinch of salt as ‘agent created’ to try and engineer a move.
However the continual news over the last few days suggest the Arsenal is genuine.(today’s Dailymail.co.uk, BBC.com etc).
Add in new reports that bids are coming in January from the un-named Saudi Club – again reported today via fichajes.net – and the conclusion suggests the storm clouds are gathering and West Ham will have to decide whether to cash in on Kudus in January.
Sullivan has always played hard ball and will no doubt try and push interest up to the magical £100 million figure but I suspect the club will cash in should a bid come in over £85 million. That, in January, buys a lot of replacements for a West Ham team urgently in need of a fast young striker and a midfield playmaker to replace a banned (or badly out of form at best) Lucas Paquetá.
The player himself will have a say as to his destination, but if a £100 million bid hits the West Ham e-mail account then whoever is in charge at London Stadium by then has better get used to sending out a team without ‘Starboy’. Not the news that any newly appointed head coach would like to receive a couple of weeks into his challenge!
