BBC pundit raves about ‘best player on the pitch’ Mohammed Kudus in West Ham win over Lincoln City
Mohammed Kudus was the “best player on the pitch” as West Ham found a way past Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup and will be pushing to start in the Premier League, says Stephen Kelly.
The BBC pundit was speaking to the Football Daily podcast (27 September) and raved about the performance of the Ghana forward, who joined from Ajax in a deal Sky Sports reported to be worth £38million in the last transfer window.
His two starts for the club have come in the Europa League, in last week’s 3-1 win over Backa Topola, and the Carabao Cup as Tomas Soucek scored the only goal in 1-0 win over Lincoln on Wednesday (27 September).
But Kelly thinks the 23-year-old will soon to be starting for the Hammers in the top flight too.
“[Mohammed] Kudus really stood out, I think he’s going to be one that pushes for that first team in the next few weeks or so,” Kelly said in quotes reported by the Boot Room.
“He’s going to be an influential player for them over the course of the next season.
“Players like that just stand out. The little things they do, the movement, the shoulders, the scanning off the ball.
“When he received it, even if he was on the blindside, he would still get himself in a good body position, manipulating the ball into a place where he would draw a foul.
“And then the pace and the injection of pace when he started driving with it, he was playing in like central midfield off the front and then he went out to the right-wing position.
“He was the best player on the pitch, the most talented player on the pitch and someone that I’m looking forward to seeing more of in the Premier League.”
Good things come to those who wait
It is perfectly understandable that West Ham fans are itching to see more from their big-money summer signing, one who many were impressed the Hammers managed to bring to the London Stadium.
Kudus has looked bright in the games he has played in the Europa League and against Lincoln on Wednesday, and having seen his side lose back-to-back Premier League games against Manchester City and Liverpool, David Moyes will surely start playing Kudus from the start in the league soon.
So far Moyes has clearly been pretty keen to slowly introduce the Ghana forward into the fold, and you can definitely understand why he is trying to slowly integrate Kudus into the fray.
Now, though, it feels like the ideal time to start introducing him into the Premier League fray. Good things come to those who wait, as the old saying goes, but Kudus can be a real difference-maker, so it’s time to let him make a difference.
In other West Ham news, one Sky Sports reporter was left baffled by what Danny Ings did versus Lincoln.