Chelsea agreed terms to sign Mohammed Kudus from Ajax before West Ham United swooped
Chelsea agreed terms to sign Mohammed Kudus from Ajax before West Ham stepped in to seal a deal after a lowball offer, according to his agent.
The Hammers spent £38m on the Ghana international towards the end of the transfer window as David Moyes looked to bolster his attacking options after losing Gianluca Scamacca.
But it was only possible because a deal to take Kudus to Chelsea fell through after they made a “ridiculous” offer Ajax having already agreed personal terms with him.
“He [Kudus] wanted to leave, there weren’t 50,000 clubs who needed a midfielder and could afford him,’ Mendelewitsch told RMC Sport.
“Obviously, we offered him his profile at PSG. Now, it’s the club’s choice not to not move forward. All clubs have the right to decide that they go to another profile or that it is not their priority.
“It’s a shame because I think Mohammed Kudus would have been a suitable profile.
“We reached an agreement with Chelsea, we agreed contractually with Chelsea but the deal did not happen. He spoke with the coach [Pochettino] but in the end it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because Chelsea made a ridiculous offer to Ajax.
“There was no counter-offer that followed. Actually, Chelsea did this to a lot of players this summer with very low offers to clubs knowing they wouldn’t be accepted.
“The truth is that they were completely taken by the transfer of Caicedo which used all their energy.”
Our gain
Chelsea’s transfer strategy over the last few windows has been questioned heavily as they spent well over £1bn and have very little to show for it on the pitch.
But Kudus would seemingly have fit in well at Stamford Bridge with his versatility and quality in the attacking third, but they missed out by dithering.
Ironically that is something that West Ham have been accused of doing a lot in the past when it comes to signing their targets for David Moyes, but on this occasion they managed to get a deal done relatively quickly with Tim Steidten leading the way with negotiations.
Now we’re the ones who get to see his quality and skill on show every week, and when he eventually breaks into Moyes’ starting lineup on a regular basis it will be our gain from Chelsea’s loss in this situation.
Well done to the board for acting quickly and getting a deal done, and now we get to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers are ready to splash £52m on this headline-making Premier League star.