West Ham have been hit by a crushing new Mohammed Kudus blow ahead of Liverpool and because of them too.
West Ham and Liverpool are at opposite ends of the financial spectrum this summer.
Arne Slot spent just £12m in his first summer at Liverpool by bringing in Federico Chiesa.
Things haven’t worked out for the Italian at Anfield, but they certainly have for Slot, who is on course to win the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Meanwhile West Ham spent a whopping £155m last summer but are facing a battle to avoid ending the season as the worst team in the league besides the three relegated sides.
West Ham and Liverpool disprove money buys success
As a result of their big spending, West Ham say they are now at their PSR limit heading into the summer window.
And that means the Hammers have to make a number of sales to raise funds.
Graham Potter will offload as many as 11 current West Ham players in a bid to do that.
Jarrod Bowen is undoubtedly West Ham’s most valuable player.
When Jurgen Klopp rocked the football world by announcing he was stepping down as Liverpool boss, there was a collective sigh of relief in east London.
Klopp never hid his huge admiration for Hammers hero Bowen.
Last season the German even admitted Bowen was his favourite player outside of Liverpool.
That always felt ominous for the Hammers given the longstanding uncertainty over the future of Mohamed Salah.
Especially as it was claimed by top Liverpool journalists that Klopp wanted the West Ham hitman as Salah’s heir.
West Ham insist Bowen is not for sale this summer after new links to Liverpool last week.
So the Hammers are banking on selling Mohammed Kudus for decent money to boost Potter’s ability to make signings.
West Ham’s new Kudus blow after major development for Liverpool
Kudus has also been linked with Liverpool, again with a view to Salah’s possible exit.
Slot has admitted he is a big fan of Kudus, whose best position at West Ham has been off the right.
Slot knows the Ghanaian well from their time competing in Dutch football.
Arsenal, Man City and Saudi side Al-Nassr have also been reported as suitors for Kudus.
The problem is, his poor performances this season – in which he has registered just three goals and two assists – have seen West Ham’s options for a sale dwindle.
Earlier his month Hammers News revealed Arsenal have now moved on from Kudus after the appointment of new sporting director Andrea Berta.
Now West Ham have been hit by new Kudus blow after a major development for Liverpool.
Kudus suitors are dropping like flies with Liverpool surely now ruled out of the running too.
That’s as reports from the likes of The Mail claim the Salah saga is over and the Egyptian is signing a new two-year deal.
Slot may want Kudus to play in another position. But he’s hardly convinced this season when Julen Lopetegui and Potter have tried that.
Make no mistake, Salah’s new deal is a massive blow for West Ham.
The club have made it clear they are desperate for cash and Potter’s rebuild is entirely reliant on it.
Salah deal sees Kudus suitors dropping like flies
There are very few clubs out there who will be willing to part with any more than £50m for Kudus.
And two of them are now out of the running in the space of two weeks.
Al-Nassr may represent West Ham’s last hope.
But journalist Florian Plettenberg says Kudus doesn’t want to go to Saudi as things stand.
The faded star boy’s West Ham release clause is something of a red herring.
It is set at £100m for Saudi clubs, £85m for Premier League sides and £80m for European clubs.
But that is a clause put in at the request of the player to ensure he could move if an elite club came calling and were willing to pay big.
West Ham can sell Kudus for whatever they want.
And the fact they need to means it will almost certainly be for significantly less than any of those amounts.
