Chelsea have been tipped as a possible surprise transfer suitor for West Ham United winger Mohammed Kudus, with a former Hammers scout discussing the player’s future.
Kudus has shone during his time at the London Stadium, and it’s not too surprising to hear that there’s a lot of interest in the Ghana international, with Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City named as being among his suitors in a report from Football Insider.
That report also carries quotes from former West Ham scout Mick Brown, who says he thinks Kudus is probably too expensive for a lot of the clubs involved, though he also admitted that you can never be too sure what Chelsea are going to do when it comes to the transfer market.
Kudus would likely cost as much as £85million, according to Football Insider, and although the 24-year-old is undoubtedly a top player, it remains to be seen if he’s worth quite that much, while it’s also debatable if any of the aforementioned clubs really need to spend that kind of money when they already have a lot of similar attacking players.
Mohammed Kudus transfer: Could Chelsea make a surprise move?
Arsenal already have quality wide-forwards like Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard, while Raheem Sterling also recently moved to the Emirates Stadium on loan, so it’s hard to see why Kudus would be a priority for the Gunners.
Liverpool, meanwhile, might want to think about replacing Mohamed Salah soon, though offering him a new contract would surely be the club’s priority, while they also have Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota to choose from in attack.
Chelsea also have a lot of options in that position, with Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke in fine form, while there’s also Pedro Neto, Jadon Sancho and Mykhailo Mudryk in that area of the pitch.
Still, Brown can imagine it might be the Blues who move for Kudus as it’s certainly true that you can never exactly rule them out of spending a lot of money and looking to have as big a squad as possible.
“I know other clubs are interested and have been watching him,” Brown told Football Insider.
“But I’ve seen an £85million release clause mentioned, I’ve heard that could put some of the interested clubs off of a move.
“It would have to be a situation where he wants to leave the club, but then you look around and you can’t see anybody who’s going to pay £85million for him.
“Man City have got enough wide players already, Liverpool won’t be able to afford it, where would he fit in the Arsenal team? Where does he go in the Chelsea team?
“Madueke is doing very well and improving, Cole Palmer is one of the best players in the league at the moment, they’ve got another load of wide players who don’t get near the team.
“You never know with Chelsea, though. We’ll see what happens with them.”
If Madueke continues his recent form, then there’s surely no need for CFC to bring in someone like Kudus, but the jury is still out on players like Sancho and Mudryk, so it could be that there’d be some decision-makers at Stamford Bridge who’d be tempted by Kudus as an upgrade.