Graham Potter has stood firm ahead of West Ham’s clash with Spurs, refusing to take the bait when pressed about Mohammed Kudus.
And it comes as fresh revelations prove the West Ham boss was right to offload the Ghanaian, even if it was to bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
West Ham take on fierce rivals Tottenham at the London Stadium this Saturday night with the big storyline being the return of Mohammed Kudus.
Hammers fans have dubbed Kudus ‘Judus’ since he left for Spurs in a £54.5m move in the summer.
There are several strands to the Kudus debate.
It is churlish to suggest Kudus is not a talented player. West Ham fans know he can play and he showed that in his debut season with 20 goals and assists including some barnstorming strikes.
An elite level dribbler, many at West Ham believe he has been found out a little bit and question his end product.
Kudus adds more spice to fierce West Ham and Spurs rivalry
In an ideal world, where West Ham were ambitious and in rude financial health, they would be keeping a player of Kudus’ talents and looking to build around him and other key stars.
But the Hammers board insisted Graham Potter must sell players in order to be able to buy.
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So the fact West Ham fans have to suffer the ignominy of seeing a quality player leave for Tottenham is on the board, not the manager.
As one of West Ham’s only high-value assets in the summer, Kudus was always in line to be sold and Potter elected that being able to use the money from offloading the Black Stars ace in order to sign his own players would be more beneficial than keeping the former Ajax attacker.
Fans of Spurs and West Ham have exchanged the usual jibes since.
Tottenham supporters have been thanking West Ham for selling them Kudus, claiming he is a bargain.
Hammers fans on the other hand have warned Spurs they are getting a head-down merchant with no end product and a poor attitude.
Irons fans also noted Kudus’ efforts to track and tackle back fell off a cliff after his initial enthusiasm in his debut campaign.
The truth, as Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle has suggested himself, is probably somewhere in-between.
One thing that’s for certain is Kudus will get a white hot reception at the London Stadium following his comments in the wake of West Ham’s controversial sale to Spurs.
Potter refuses to take the Kudus bait ahead of Spurs
An inflammatory unveiling saw Kudus declare he ‘only wanted Spurs’.
The first player to be traded between the two clubs since 2011, Kudus was also heard telling Tottenham’s doctor he would ‘find Spurs in there’ as he examined his heart during a medical.
Claims Kudus was persistently late to training during pre-season in order to force the move to Tottenham have also enraged Hammers supporters.
As he makes an early season return to his old stomping ground, it was obvious West Ham’s manager was going to be asked about Kudus.
But Potter refused to take the Kudus bait ahead of Spurs as revelations prove West Ham were right.
In his pre-Tottenham press conference, Potter was asked whether there is extra motivation for West Ham to win to get one over on Kudus.
Potter did not bite. But notably, he did not mention Kudus by name or offer any praise or pleasantries for his former player – something most managers usually do in these circumstances, even if they don’t mean it.
“No, I think the motivation is there for us, it’s for us to play against Spurs,” Potter said.
“We know how important it is for the fans, we know how important it is for the club.
“Three points for us is huge so we want to do that for us and for the team and the club and we can’t control anything from anybody else. We just want to play well and win.”
Kudus and Bowen revelations prove West Ham right
As Kudus makes his return, there have been two telling revelations which prove West Ham made the right call selling him to Spurs.
Explaining their decision to offload Kudus in the summer, West Ham’s board stated his best position is off the right, where they already have a superior player in Jarrod Bowen.
Kudus is known to look up to West Ham’s number 20 Bowen and rate him very highly, saying: ‘Jaz is the GOAT’ in one interview during his time in east London.
Some have suggested Kudus even chose his number 20 shirt at Tottenham for that reason.
Now the world’s leading football data experts have revealed staggering statistics about Kudus and Bowen which prove West Ham’s board right.
They also show Hammers fans are accurate in their warning to Spurs that Kudus’ end product is poor.
“Mohammed Kudus has more incomplete dribbles (110) than any other player since the start of the last Premier League season,” WhoScored have announced.
Meanwhile, WhoScored have revealed the list of Premier League forwards who have won possession for their team the most in the final third since the start of last season.
Unsurprisingly, Kudus is nowhere to be seen – but Hammers captain Bowen certainly is.
Frustratingly for Tottenham, two players they missed out on before opting to sign Kudus, are the only players above Bowen in that particular list in the shape of Antoine Semenyo and Bryan Mbuemo.
Bowen has won the ball back 32 times for West Ham in the final third since the start of last season.
Semenyo topped the chart with 42 while Mbuemo had 35, Amad Diallo 30 and Mo Salah 27.