West Ham must prioritise Mohammed Kudus transfer over Youssef En-Nesyri pursuit
West Ham are in talks over deals for Mohammed Kudus and Youssef En-Nesyri, but only one of the talented forwards is likely to make the switch to the London Stadium.
The Hammers are said to have opened discussions with Sevilla over £35million-rated star En-Nesyri [Toby Cudworth] amid doubts over whether they would be able to agree a deal with Ajax for Kudus.
However, ExWHUEmployee reported via Patreon later on Monday [21 August] that United are not yet ready to give up on Kudus as they are only around £3-5m away from matching Ajax’s valuation.
Whether the fresh pursuit of long-term target En-Nesyri is a tactic to speed up negotiations with Ajax, or simply a case of the Irons instead preferring the Moroccan, is something only those high up at the club can answer.
But if Kudus is indeed available for a not-too-dissimilar amount, it is a transfer that makes more sense than chasing En-Nesyri.
Both players are very similar in that they can play across the front line and are each capable of finding the net.
While the quality of Eredivisie and LaLiga must be factored in, Kudus outperformed En-Nesyri in pretty much all of the key metrics last season.
The 23-year-old scored more goals per 90 minutes than En-Nesyri (0.55 v 0.43), assisted more goals per 90 (0.15 v 0.05) and also scored from more of his shots (0.16 v 0.13) [FBref].
In fact, Kudus also came out on top in terms of percentage of passes completed (85.5 v 64.7), tackles won per 90 (0.95 v 0.43) and successful take-ons per 90 (4.57 v 0.22) – a nice blend of metrics looking at different aspects of a player’s game.
En-Nesyri has his own strengths, such as winning aerial duels (3.24 per 90, compared to 0.50 for Kudus), but the Ajax ace appears to have more in his attacking arsenal.
Add in the fact that Kudus is three years younger than En-Nesyri, and it is worth West Ham paying the few extra million required to finalise a move for the talented attacker.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers are reportedly on the verge of announcing another new signing.