Take a look at the Premier League table and a couple of high-flying ‘small club’ names stand out. Currently lying ninth- where West Ham would love to be just now- Brighton and Hove Albion. And look further up, sitting sixth at present- Bournemouth. West Ham can dream of a sixth place finish. What these two clubs have in common is that they’ve made big player sales in recent years: None more so than Brighton.
In 2022/3 They sold a huge £110 million worth of players – Marc Cucurella, Yves Bissouma, Leandro Trossard and Neal Maupay. In a Guardian article from 2023 entitled The more Brighton sell their best players the better they become the following season’s success was highlighted:“even after Alexis Mac Allister joined Liverpool and Moisés Caicedo signed for Chelsea – bringing in £150m in transfer fees – De Zerbi’s men are thriving.”
Bournemouth, also have achieved the same success from player sales – last Summer’s record transfer of Dominic Solanke (pictured) to Spurs for £55 million – Arguably they are performing better without him. Neither of these two clubs are derided by their own fan base for having ‘limited ambition’ as they show great business acumen AND further success on the pitch to match.
Hence West Ham’s rumoured transfer strategy ‘shock’ to try and sell Mohammed Kudus for £100 million in order to bring in a top – class striker does not make me recoil.
He’s past his best at London Stadium and wants to move on anyway – plus the £80 million buyout clause in his contract means the Hammers can suffer a moody Kudus until June when he’ll be gone anyway, or cash in now and re-invest. Good business, turning a £38 million purchase into a £100 million sale. Tim Steidten’s finest deal. So far. And I’m sure we can all create a shopping list of forwards from either one of Arsenal, Liverpool or Newcastle that might sweeten the deal if they came to West Ham as part of the sale price.
Time to cash in on want-away Mohammed Kudus
This is the new model Premier League. Get used to it: It isn’t limited ambition’ on West Ham’s front but good business but – here is where I do raise a red flag – the next purchase has to be equally well judged.
And I’m not sure that the Steidten – Sullivan – Lopetegui triangle as it judders forwards at present is capable of getting the real deal instead of another Donkey.
No one is going to pay 80m GBP let alone 100m GBP for Kudus. We’d make a good profit on him but that’s it.
Alternatively we could play him in one of his preferred positions and he might start doing better again.
Him starting on the LW for the early part of the season was horrific management.
Not sure the way WH is playing under Lopo … and the negative reaction in the media …. Would anyone really want to play for us at the moment …… we need to be more competitive start playing better … or get rid of Lopo first ….. by next summer we will have a clear picture …..
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Ok if Kudas gets sold … but what about Bowen … what happens if Liverpool or Man U want him …
who have we got …. Who can we get … to play up front … I’m for blooding from the academy … but let’s bring them in now ….
Best bit of business we can do is to let JLo go.
It would be like signing half a dozen new players instantly.
There is something rotten in that dressing room & the only noise we get to hear is it’s the manager.
Westham were only ever a stepping stone for Kudus and in addition he hasn’t proven to be a game changer this season . Losing Kudus for 85-100 million won’t seriously harm Westham and so to cash in on him before his value tails off is a good financial decision . If only Westham had sold Paqueta before his troubles .
So you think if we get 100 million for kudus most of that will be spent on a striker….come on bud you must know sullivan by now ..lovely sentiment..but he will find a way to pocket most of it and then get a loan or something…remember the money from za za and scamacca???they had the same plan then and they bought no one …a season later no mention of the money they got ….i remember because I bought it up and asked were it went ..obviously that post wasn’t put up and the 50 million or whatever it was , was never seen again 🙄 100% true ….they will find a way to hide it i guarantee..or most of it at least
You’re pretty dumb. Zaza was a loan,so we didn’t get any money for him. You also think Sullivan somehow “pockets” most of any £100m sale we make. How does that work then? I’m genuinely interested where you get these fantastic notions from 🙄
If Kudos goes to Liverpool he will be the new Salah and they should have to pay for his services!
The article is well written and if you dig further it all started under Graham Potter. So for all the yes/no mongers look at what he did, average management skills at Brighton – didn’t do anything at Chelsea. Just goes to show that when you have a board that supports a forward thinking manager things improve on the pitch. Did Brighton set the world alight under Potter? No, did they flirt with relegation? No! Did he fall out with the fans, I do not recall. So a decent board – a manager who is supported to do a job and things improve and the club/supporters benefit in the long run, West Hams continuous dealings with bargain basement deals that Del Boy Dave Sullivan should not be involved with – will leave many of us frustrated for a few years yet.
Kudus out, Callum Wilson in. Yeah great business that.
I’m not opposed to selling Kudus if we get the sort of money quoted BUT have no faith it will be well spent. And the 50 odd forwards that have come in under the current owners so far doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that we’ll get it right this time.
History has proved,we never have a problem selling a good player for decent money the issue always seems to be buying a good player for decent money,I can’t see sully sanctioning a fortune on a striker or midfielder that then the money will be well spent it will be another cheap has been or another player nobody else wants so therefore a complete waste of transfer strategy
Exactly what I said ter
100 mill straight in sullys back pocket won’t spend it on players end of
100% but the mugs think they will …its happened twice before……this song has been played alot …they will say they tried …if they couldn’t spend extra 5 mil on Duran…
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣and they think he will invest up to 80 million on a striker….YEAH OK.
Yup
Can you explain what actual evidence you have that Sullivan can somehow “pocket” £100m worth of transfer money? Amazing how hatred brings out the biggest dumb dumbs on here.
Its not rocket science. Stop buying over the hill 30plus year olds with no sell on value.and buy youngsters who if they dont work out will always sell . Move over tim…
Sullivans no ambition. That’s the beginning and end of any conversation . Every time the clubs had a chance of champions League football. he’s slammed the breaks on every time and hid behind the managers so called choices . .
Selling kudus will be a big mistake I know he is keen to move but it’s mainly to do with JLo being the problem as it is with other members of the squad and who can blame them . JLo has no people skills the way he has treated certain players is an absolute disgrace . Things would settle down nicely and we would start to climb up the league with a manager that knows what he’s doing one that shows the players respect and understands about tactics something that JLo hasn’t got a clue about . If Sullivan and co were to act now and get rid of JLo then maybe we would stand a chance of making the European spots while JLo remains in charge that will never happen and our top players will always be looking for a way out of the club
Kudus was one of our best players vs Bournemouth. Now is not the time to sell. We need a 1 or 2 strikers on loan if we can’t afford to buy. We have limited options up front and selling key players is not a good strategy.
100%, headlines are silly. It’s clear to us all.. the changing room is divided by the manager and Kudus is one who appears not to be happy with him.. Todibo another.
Now’s not the time to sell, I’ve always said and still till today am not convinced JLo is the right fit for us. I like the idea of Carrick, one of our own, played highest level, won titles and experienced working under some great managers, he’s doing relatively well with Boro and I reckon would be a step in the right direction – If Nobes wants him, we cant be too far off the mark with him !
Agree about Carrick. Think we will have to wait until end of the season but if Boro don’t get promoted he might be tempted.
If we had signed Tim’s target – Viktor Gyökeres instead of giving Moyes the power of veto we could’ve had another £100m player for just £17m.
We need a progressive coach and Sullivan to let Tim hire JLo’s replacement (probably next summer) as Sullivan won’t admit his mistake.
Sullivan can stay as owner, but he needs to trust the data driven recruitment model for coaches and players.
Trusting coaches like JLo is a waste of time & money. We have JLo to thank for Rodrigues.Ten Hag was out of his depth at Man Utd and wasted a fortune on players like Antony!
It’s time we showed vision a long term strategy like Brighton who with De Zerbi and now Hurzeler get things right.
Shame Tim didn’t get the chance to appoint Hurzeler to save us from Lopetegui and Rodrigues.
Yes, understand the logic but Brighton and Bournemouth have “joined up thinking” and a strategy for recruitment that aligns with a footballing philosophy and processes. These clubs have leadership and execs too that are aligned with this thinking. Hence data driven approaches, psychological profiling of coaches and players to mitigate investment risk in recruiting.
We have a board and owner who are divided on direction and recruitment and a egotistical commander not a leader in Sullivan who has veto on decisons and gets involved in recruiting using a 30 year old model via sychphantic agents. High risk of wasting 100 million and getting weaker not stronger as a result
Great comment, this is EXACTLY why we won’t be reflecting the successes of the aforementioned clubs. At last some joined up thinking. Thank you, Sir…
Excellent summary of the issues at West Ham.
Unfortunately our chairman like Moyes is a dinosaur in football philosophy , football has evolved and if we don’t evolve with it like the dinosaur we become extinct why smaller clubs who do evolve are thriving, Sullivan like the preverbial ostrich head in the sand I cant see it so it isn’t happening
Are we still searching for ‘The West Ham Way’? Are we still ‘The Academy of Football’? Or should we ditching everything in an attempt to be up there with Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester City, Juventus, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United?
Totally agree. We should follow the current trend and follow the crowd if that is the way of the future.
Almost worked for Portsmouth a few years back.
Tongue in cheek, Taffyhammer?
Where’s Portsmouth now?
Absolutely, Jellied Eel.
Spending millions in pursuit of someone else’s dream never ends well. Much better to go our own way.
Have a great Christmas and may 2025 bring us all a team of which to be proud.
COYI
Yes spot on Sir Alfred. I agree that the Kudus sale is inevitable at some point and we need the money to invest elsewhere, but do we trust the current set up to get those decisions right. I also wish we would recruit more from the top 2 english leagues. Antonio, Bowen, Summerville, Wan Bassaka, Kilman, strikes me that there is far less risk of getting a bad fit if we look closer to home
100% 👍👌