Mohammed Kudus: West Ham forward wanted by Tottenham can excite again after stuttering second season
Micky van de Ven was on the floor holding his head. Richarlison too. And then Pape Sarr got a shove in the face. It is fair to say Mohammed Kudus made quite an impact on his most recent appearance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The winger had opened the scoring earlier in the October derby but was eventually sent off late on after a VAR check for his part in a melee, which began with Kudus repeatedly booting the ball against a fallen Van de Ven. It summed up West Ham's frustrations after they had blown their advantage to go 4-1 down.
Kudus was handed a five-game ban for the incident. He later admitted he had "lost his cool" and was "deeply embarrassed" by the events. If Spurs do go on to sign him, there could be some interesting initial conversations with his former adversaries.
There will be a very different reaction from the fans who jeered him off the pitch that day, though.
Kudus is an exciting transfer target. Spurs rarely do business with West Ham - the Ghanian would be the first signing from their rivals in 14 years - but Kudus is deemed talented enough to make an exception for.
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Kudus is just about to turn 25, would add much-needed depth to Spurs' wide attacking positions and, after two seasons in east London, is well aware of the demands of the Premier League. With three years still to run on his West Ham contract, it all adds up to a price tag north of £50m.
So what would Spurs be getting for their money? And how much of a concern should his drop-off from an eye-catching first season be?
Best newcomer, stuttering second season - will Kudus kick on?
Kudus was named as the Premier League's best newcomer by Sky Sports' Gary Neville in the MNF awards at the end of the 2023/24 season. A £38m purchase from Ajax looked like a bargain deal for West Ham, with Kudus scoring 14 times across all competitions, setting up nine more goals and bringing excitement to the London Stadium with his lightning, direct dribbles.
He even won the club's goal-of-the-season prize for an electric run through the Freiburg defence, which began in his own half.
But there were just five goals in all last term. As well as the one at Spurs, his only other goals came home and away against Brighton and Ipswich, with his final strike of the season arriving with just three minutes to play against relegated opposition at Portman Road.
Statistically it was a disappointing dip from the promise of that first campaign. "There's no doubt that he's a quality player," said Sky Sports Jamie Carragher said in May. "Last season (2023/24) he looked fantastic, he just hasn't looked the same player [in 2024/25]."
There are, though, the caveats around West Ham's form and also the positions Kudus was asked to play during the 2024/25 season.
The Hammers went from top-half finishers and Europa League quarter-finalists under David Moyes to struggling to 14th with Julen Lopetegui and then Graham Potter in charge for Kudus' second season in London.
Injury issues in the West Ham attack led to Kudus playing in four different positions in Potter's first three games in charge, something he told Sky Sports was "very difficult".
After racking up 1,523 minutes of gametime on his favoured right flank in his first season - cutting onto his favoured left foot to shoot at goal or supply Jarrod Bowen in central areas - that number dropped to 646 minutes last term, as Kudus plugged gaps across the frontline.
There were even stints in an unfamiliar centre-forward role, where he admitted struggling with the physicality and tactical runs required.
It appeared coaching had been done to try to get Kudus playing in more dangerous areas - his chance creation count nudged up, while his increased shot total included a higher percentage of efforts from closer to goal. But with his take-on numbers lower, the spark and excitement Kudus can bring to West Ham's attack was far more fleeting.
The question is how much of that is a natural inconsistency in his game and how much is down to playing in a West Ham side lacking fluidity in their attacking play last season? "Sometimes when the team isn't functioning as well as you'd like, individuals within the team can suffer with that," said Potter when asked about Kudus in May.
Will a Tottenham team - which finished three places below the Hammers but scored 18 more goals - provide the environment to help Kudus fire like he did in that first year in England?
The approach of new Spurs boss Thomas Frank will be significant. Bryan Mbeumo, a left-footer like Kudus, starred on the right side of Frank's attack at Brentford, scoring 20 times last season. Could Frank help Kudus to get near those levels?
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Spurs' top scorer last season, Brennan Johnson, will be vying for the same position, as could Dejan Kulusevski, although he was increasingly used in-field by Ange Postecoglou. So Kudus could also be deployed on the left, where he spent much of his minutes last season at West Ham.
Uncertainty over Heung-Min Son's future, the end of Timo Werner's unsuccessful loan and the relative inexperience of Mikey Moore and Mathys Tel - who can also be used as a centre-forward - mean Spurs could do with an increased threat from that flank. Especially with the demands of Champions League football likely to require squad rotation.
Kudus, surely, can rediscover his defence-threatening thrust, his trademark when he is on top of his game, and the combination of spectacular strikes and back-post finishing, which he demonstrated on his last trip to Tottenham.
That all adds up to a worthwhile investment for Spurs, if they can find a figure which convinces West Ham to sell. They will then hope Kudus will be leaving opponents in disarray in a different way to his derby display last October when he is next back in N17.
