West Ham United have broken their silence on claims that rivals Tottenham Hotspur are preparing a bid for Mohammed Kudus.
The board have made their stance abundantly clear on the situation, responding firmly to claims of an imminent offer from Tottenham chief Daniel Levy.
West Ham and Spurs have not done business together for 14 years.
The last players to move between the two clubs were David Bentley, on loan from Spurs to the Hammers, and Scott Parker – both back in 2011.
A very public row erupted between the two clubs when Levy pulled the plug on a West Ham deal for Emmanuel Adebayor in 2015.
West Ham co-owner at the time, David Gold – who sadly passed away in 2023 – delivered an icy blast at Levy after the Spurs chairman reneged on the deal on deadline day.
Why Spurs and West Ham have not done business for 14 years
“No matter how hard you try there are people out there that you just can’t do business with,” Gold said of Levy.
A bitter fallout has taken place between Hammers vice-chair Karren Brady and Levy under the current ownership too.
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That’s after a spying scandal played out in the courts during the battle for the London Stadium.
Fast forward 10 years since an unofficial transfer embargo was put in place following the collapse of that Adebayor deal and the prospect of a West Ham doing business with their fierce rivals Tottenham has reared its ugly head once more.
Tottenham have been linked with a move for Mohammed Kudus this summer.
The Ghanaian is for sale this summer as West Ham desperately seek to raise funds so Graham Potter can make his own signings.
As things stand, West Ham’s owners are insisting there is no money to spend until sales are made due to PSR.
As reported by Hammers News, Spurs ‘like’ Kudus and are intending to make a bid to West Ham, which has the support of new manager Thomas Frank.
It will present a major dilemma for West Ham chief David Sullivan and the board.
Firstly, whether to sell to end the unofficial transfer embargo and sell to their fierce rivals for the first time in 14 years.
Secondly, whether to accept what the lowball offer Levy is reportedly planning as desperation ramps up to bring in cash to fund Potter’s rebuild.
West Ham board respond to ‘imminent’ Spurs bid for Kudus
Now the West Ham board has responded to claims of an ‘imminent’ Spurs bid for Kudus and made their stance perfectly clear.
A top transfer insider told Hammers News this week that ‘Levy wants to try and get Kudus for as little as £50m’.
That’s £35m less than the release clause in Kudus’ West Ham contract.
Although that clause is something of a red herring because the Hammers can sell him for whatever fee they want below that.
And the club knows nobody will be paying the clause amount after Kudus’ underwhelming second season, which saw him banned for five games after he left three Tottenham players on the deck during West Ham’s 4-1 defeat at their rivals.
Hammers make stance clear on Spurs interest
If Sullivan agreed to that figure, it would represent a meagre £11.5m profit for West Ham.
Although finances are dictating Kudus is sold, selling to Tottenham would not go down well with fans.
It could be seen as waving the white flag that Spurs are the bigger club and can sign key Hammers players when they really want to.
When it was reported Arsenal were interested at around £50m earlier this month, the Hammers said such an offer for Kudus would be ‘laughed out of the room’.
Now responding to claims of an imminent lowball Tottenham bid for Kudus, West Ham’s owners have made three major admissions.
Firstly that they would sell to Spurs after refusing to take the opportunity to rule it out.
Secondly, they have set the minimum fee they want for Kudus from Tottenham or any other suitors.
And thirdly the club have confirmed Tottenham are far from alone in wanting the former Ajax star.
West Ham owners would sell to Spurs but only at right price
Hammers News asked the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners whether they would they sell to Tottenham as rivals and for as low as £50m.
“We would not sell him for under £65m,” the senior spokesman for the West Ham board exclusively told Hammers News.
“There is lots of interest.”
Kudus scored five goals and laid on four assists in all competitions for West Ham last season.
That was well down on the 20 goal contributions he provided during his scintillating debut season, when many of his strikes were goal of the season contenders.
There is no doubting Kudus’ talent and potential to be one of the best attackers in Europe.
So West Ham are right to want at least £65m.
Chelsea are said to be still mulling a bid while Newcastle, Arsenal and Liverpool have also been linked.
West Ham will hope some kind of bidding war breaks out which will help them get to that magic £65m mark.
And sooner rather than later given the desperate need to start making signings of their own.