Just because West Ham United managed to eke £54.5 million out of bitter Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur last summer, that did not mean Thomas Frank felt his big-money acquisition was the finished article.
On the contrary, the former Brentford boss appeared very much attuned to the criticism which came Mohammed Kudus’ way during a difficult final season at the London Stadium.
Almost as soon as the former Ajax winger arrived in his new North London home – the Hammers forced Daniel Levy to pay up and eventually meet their £54.5 million asking price – Thomas Frank wasted little time warning Kudus that a repeat of his 2024/25 form with West Ham United would not be accepted.
Three months on, while Kudus has still been one of the few bright sparks in a very underwhelming start to the Frank era, demands for greater returns have so far gone unanswered.
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Mohammed Kudus needs to improve his stats after leaving West Ham United for Tottenham
Flash forward 12 months, and the 25-year-old again heads into the seventeenth game of the campaign with a pair of goals to his name.
So, while he has doubled his tally of assists from three to six in the same timeframe, it is fair to say Frank is yet to see Kudus evolve into the sort of reliable goalscorer he had hoped for.
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“Of course, I followed him from a distance. [Kudus] impressed me the first season at West Ham and a little less last season,” Frank said in September.
“Looking from distance, they maybe didn’t have their best season for various reasons. I don’t want to go into detail, it’s very difficult to judge from the outside, [but] that maybe doesn’t help. From a player perspective, I can only really speak about the players I am coaching right now.
“Definitely, all the front three or four players need to provide goals and score goals. Wingers and strikers need to have quite a significant number of goals, or as many as possible. So of course that is a target for Mo as well.
“I know he’s very eager to get better numbers on the board.”
Kudus average has actually dropped since West Ham exit
Despite a series of sparkling displays on the right-hand side, Kudus often appears to be the only Spurs player capable of creating something out of nothing, he is averaging a goal every 7.3 matches under Frank.
At West Ham, he averaged a goal every 4.2 games. This season’s average is actually marginally worse than his disappointing final season in claret and blue.
So while both Frank and Kudus were on the same page – fully aware that improvements were needed in the final third if he was to justify that hefty price-tag – actually putting those ambitions into practice is proving easier said than done.
There are, of course, a few reasons why Kudus’ positive start to life at Spurs is yet to be reflected in the statistics. While he often played in a central spot for West Ham, he has spent most of his time under Frank nailed to the right-hand touchline.
His role appears to revolve around whipping crosses into the penalty area from wide positions. Perhaps this explains why his personal goal tally has dropped but his number of assists has risen.
Kudus struggled with the criticism before joining Spurs
In the meantime, if Kudus struggled with the criticism he received at West Ham, you can bet your bottom dollar that the questions will only get louder if he continued to average a goal every 7.3 games as a Tottenham player.
“Being talked about almost every day on the TV, it’s hard to deal with,” Kudus told Sports Illustrated a few months ago.
“From people who don’t even know you, literally, they just watch you for maybe 90 minutes and then there’s a judgement on sometimes who you are or what you are and stuff like that, which I personally I don’t think is fair.
“I think the best people can really talk about you are the people that spend the most time with you almost every single day, you know.
“But, that’s part of the work. And we as athletes, of course, we have to deal with that. That’s why I say don’t be famous or something like that, but you can still use it to your best ability and, and have an impact on other people’s lives.”