Chelsea destroyed by agent over ‘ridiculous’ low-grade bid to sign sublime West Ham talent
The agent of West Ham star Mohammed Kudus has ripped into Chelsea and their co-owner Todd Boehly for what she feels was an insulting offer to sign the star and how their actions denied them the chance of his signing.
The Ghana forward finally moved to the Premier League in the summer, signing for West Ham in a deal that will ultimately cost them £38m from Ajax. For the 23-year-old, it brought to an end an intense 12 months worth of speculation linking him with a plethora of Premier League clubs.
And Kudus, while using somewhat sparingly by the UEFA Conference League winners so far, has just started to show his qualities with some impressive cameo outings. Indeed, while he is yet to start in the Premier League, appearing off the bench on five occasions so far, Kudus has still managed to weigh in with three goals and an assist from eight outings in all competitions so far.
However, Kudus’ career path could have taken him on a different journey if a number of other transfer options had materialised.
To that end, Everton pushed hard to sign Kudus in summer 2022, one year before his big breakthrough season with Ajax. However, their sale at the time of Antony to Manchester United in an £85m deal effectively scuppered their chances, despite the winger’s willingness to make the move to Goodison.
In the intervening months, Manchester United and Tottenham were also linked with Kudus’ signature, though it was Chelsea who perhaps came closest of any other side to beating West Ham to his signature.
To that end, Blues co-owner Boehly made a serious play for his signature in the early throes of the summer window.
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Chelsea mocked over insulting Mohammed Kudus offer
Indeed, Boehly threw away his side’s chances of securing his signing by only forwarding an insulting offer Ajax’s way. And while Chelsea did agree personal terms with the player, it was left to West Ham to pounce in the final days of the window after matching the Dutch giants’ asking price.
To this point, little has been known about Chelsea‘s failure to land Kudus, but now his agent Jen Mendelewitsch has revealed the offer from the big-money spending Blues totalled a mere £17m, an offer she has branded ‘ridiculous’ and costing Mauricio Pochettino’s side their chances of his signing.
“We reached an agreement with Chelsea, we agreed the contract with Chelsea but the deal was not done,” she told RMC Sport.
“He talked with the coach [Pochettino] but in the end it didn’t happen because Chelsea made a ridiculous offer to Ajax.
“There was no counter offer. Chelsea did this with lots of players this summer, making very low offers to clubs knowing that they would not be accepted.”
PSG were also offered West Ham man
Mendelewitsch claims Boehly was, at the time, completely focused on sealing the signing of Moises Caicedo from Brighton and putting his eggs into that basket may ultimately have cost them a deal for Kudus.
“The truth is that they were completely focused on the transfer of Caicedo which took up all their energy,” Mendelewitsch added, who then went on to claim that PSG were also rivalling West Ham for his signing.
“He wanted to leave [Ajax] but there weren’t 50,000 clubs that needed a midfielder and could afford him,” she continued.
“Obviously we offered his profile to PSG, then it was the club’s choice not to not move forward. Every club has the right to decide that they go to another profile or that it is not their priority.”
Kudus, who is contracted to West Ham until summer 2028, with the option of an extra year, will hope to make his first Premier League start when the Irons return to action in Sunday’s difficult-looking trip to face Aston Villa at Villa Park.
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