Mohammed Kudus has been heavily linked with a move to Liverpool and West Ham will be powerless to stop him leaving.
West Ham and Liverpool were at two opposite ends of the scale when it came to Premier League transfer spending in the summer.
The Hammers committed over £155m to sign nine players for new boss Julen Lopetegui.
Liverpool took a very different approach after Arne Slot took the helm from Jurgen Klopp.
The Reds have gone about things in a different way with Federico Chiesa the only signing.
It’s not just this summer West Ham outspent the Reds, though.
West Ham are the Premier League’s fifth biggest spenders since 2022 while Liverpool don’t even make the top six.
The bad news about that is now the Hammers have reached a PSR ceiling which means they must sell if they want to make more signings.
Meanwhile Liverpool will have plenty of cash to spend in the coming windows as a result of keeping their powder dry.
The Reds have showed consistent interest in Jarrod Bowen over the years and have also been linked with Mohammed Kudus – a player Slot knows well from their time in the Dutch league.
The Ghanaian has an £85m release clause active in the summer.
But with the likes of Arsenal – and now Man City – all said to be seriously interested, Liverpool face serious competition if they wait until then.
West Ham are powerless to stop Kudus from leaving if a club triggers his clause in the summer.
Cunning Slot dodges Kudus bait ahead of West Ham vs Liverpool
But the Hammers have also admitted their star boy Kudus could be sold in January if someone meets their £100m valuation.
Like with Declan Rice before him, it feels a question of when rather than if Kudus leaves the Hammers.
Especially as West Ham need to raise funds to continue their squad overhaul with midfielders and strikers desperately needed.
The 24-year-old is undoubtedly one of the most naturally talented players seen in east London for years.
It had been thought Liverpool would look to sign him if they needed to replace Mo Salah.
Kudus appears to have a frosty relationship with Lopetegui and has cut a frustrated figure this season, playing out of position on the left.
Kudus even hit out at Lopetegui for playing him there last week.
With West Ham playing Liverpool on Sunday, the big Kudus question was one of the first put to the Reds boss in his pre-match press conference.
Slot is known for being clever with his comments to the press.
His passive aggressive mind games have already seen many opposing managers come a cropper.
Slot isn’t afraid to say what he thinks either, as he proved when criticising Lopetegui’s failure to use West Ham’s Academy talent.
Cunning Liverpool boss Slot dodged the Kudus bait but but suggests West Ham will do something unprecedented.
Slot suggests West Ham will do something unprecedented
Given Kudus has made it clear he is frustrated being played on the left at West Ham, journalists used the fact Lopetegui will be without five key players for the game as a way of bringing the Ghanaian up in conversation.
Slot chose his words carefully given Kudus’ links with a move to Anfield.
But he thinks Lopetegui may at long last play him more centrally against his side on Sunday in the absence of Carlos Soler, Tomas Soucek and Guido Rodriguez.
Slot also made it very clear he rates Kudus highly.
“I think he’s a good player, that’s for sure,” Slot said, as reported on Liverpool’s website
“Everybody sees this.
“He can play multiple positions, I think he played here for Ajax against Liverpool as a nine as well.
“He’s a big threat for them.”
As far as West Ham fans are concerned, though, not enough of a threat this season.
Lopetegui is not getting anything like the best out of Kudus.
His talent is being criminally wasted. But some supporters have also questioned Kudus’ effort levels and impact of late too.
A big performance against Liverpool will dampen some of that noise.
And it may just persuade the Reds to spend some of their savings to meet West Ham’s valuation in January too.
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