West Ham United tax mooted on Mohammed Kudus transfer – Sky Sports
Dharmesh Sheth has warned that West Ham face paying an added “tax” to sign Mohammed Kudus from Ajax due to the huge fee they received for Declan Rice.
West Ham sold Rice to Arsenal for £105million and also brought in around £21.5m through the sale of Gianluca Scamacca to Atalanta, while Lucas Paqueta continues to be linked with an £80m-plus move to Manchester City [The Guardian].
Transfer expert Sheth provided an update on West Ham’s pursuit of Kudus live on Sky Sports’ transfer show on Wednesday 16 August, with encouragement over a potential move.
“West Ham are getting encouragement that Mohamed Kudus wants to join the London Stadium,” he said, via the Sky Sports blog [17:10].
“But that’s one thing. They still need to agree a fee with Ajax.
“You hear about the Premier League tax, the Manchester United tax, where teams charge extra for these clubs… there could be a West Ham tax given they sold Declan Rice for £105m.”
Good value
Fair or not, West Ham always knew clubs would inflate fees once they came knocking for a player.
That explains why Southampton held out for £30m for James Ward-Prowse, while it took around £35m to sign Edson Alvarez from Ajax.
Dutch heavyweights Ajax could once again play hardball when it comes to selling Kudus, who has been linked with an array of clubs after lighting up Eredivisie last season with 11 goals and three assists in 30 appearances.
The Ghana international has one-in-one so far this season, meanwhile, with his goal against Heracles last weekend potentially his last for the club should West Ham push through a deal.
Given Moyes’ need for another attacker, particularly if Paqueta moves on, the East London side cannot afford to get twitchy should Ajax add an extra few million on top of Kudus’ asking price.
After all, even if they have to pay £40m for Kudus, it would mean the club have landed the talented forward, Ward-Prowse and Alvarez for the same fee that they got for Rice.
As far as transfer business goes, that is not bad value for money at all.
In other West Ham news, the Irons are reported to have tabled a £29.9m offer for an in-demand player.