Thorny issue faces West Ham as Mukasa shines again

Last season, Divine Mukasa spent time on loan at Leicester City which didn’t pan out well for the Foxes, who found themselves relegated into the third tier of English football. The ex-Hammers academy player, by then a Manchester City employee, could not help his loan club avoid the drop and returned to Manchester just as Pep Guardiola’s era gave way way to new coach Enzo Maresca.

One of Maresca’s first decisions was to send Mukasa out on loan again.

A shrewd signing by West Ham, bringing the young man back to east London, proven as Mukasa shone again yesterday, running West Ham’s midfield alongside Arne Engels in a less flamboyant but equally important contribution as his two goals against Wolves last week. Yet here lies the paradox.

Mukasa is officially on a ‘dry’ loan, without written obligation or option to purchase. No price has been set at which the Hammers could buy him if they win promotion come May of 2027.

Whilst some sources claim a ‘gentleman’s agreement‘ is in place between the two clubs for West Ham to at least have first dibs on Mukasa’s signature next summer,  the irony is of course that the better he performs this year, the more likely his price will rise prohibitively to a point beyond West Ham’s budget.

West Ham could easily find themselves being asked to pay treble the Arne Engels figure for a player they’ve just hothoused to success.

Just in case that seems fanciful, bear in mind that Manchester City have just paid £86 million for Lille’s teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi: Would the Hammers be prepared to fork out £60 million – plus –  for a still-nineteen year old?

Let’s hope we get to find out as it’ll mean that Mukasa has shone all season and the Irons have achieved their promotion dream.

In the meantime, just savour this ‘home grown’ young talent every time he takes to the pitch and be thankful that someone at West Ham was switched on to nail down the loan deal for this one season at least. It might just have to be enough.