West Ham fans felt pretty content with the sheer enormity of the price extracted from Tottenham Hotspur for midfielder Mateus Fernandes as the Portuguese midfielder was sold the month after relegation was confirmed.
Given that Fernandes was bound to leave once West Ham became a Championship side and that there was no prospect of the Hammers coming up against him, selling him to Spurs didn’t feel quite as painful as the deal which took Mohammed Kudus to north London a season before.
And £85 million seemed an enormous price for the 21 year old, the ‘full asking price’ set by West Hams new look board.
Somehow West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus sale, completed by Sullivan for ‘just’ the £55 million when there were hopes that he’d yield far more, always seemed a capitulation by the former Irons’ Chairman.
Time for a rethink, perhaps, just over a season after the transfer that caused so much upset.
Looking back on the harmony that descended on West Ham’s dressing room after Kudus’ troubled personality departed, £55 million suddenly didn’t seem so bad.
Viewed a year after the event, especially since, after a long spell out injuries, Kudus is simply replicating his West Ham career and failing to kick on from early promise, that £55 million banked for ‘Starboy’ is starting to look like a pretty shrewd bit of business.
Spurs are finding it hard to get tune out of Mohammed Kudus, according to their own fans. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
According toSpurs own fan site hotspurhq.com:
“Tottenham are running into the same Mohammed Kudus problem West Ham did…Kudus is playing way too slow on the ball with his decision making, and his efficiency in the final third is lacking.
Tottenham need Kudus to stop slowing the play down and to be a lot more decisive in Year 2.
West Ham fans noticed this problem with Kudus during his time with the Hammers, and after spending so much to sign him from their rivals, Spurs need Kudus to snap out of this.”
Sound familiar? 100%. The Ghanaian disappointed in east London in his second year after a first season of huge excitement. It seems the same is happening at his north London home as Spuds find out the hard way – and at enormous cost – that Kudus represents one complex conundrum.
I wonder how long before ‘Starboy’ determines his heart has another club on it and starts to see his future elsewhere. Not long, by all accounts. That £55 million doesn’t sound quite such a bad deal now, does it.