Whilst West Ham players by and large got back in to the swing of things yesterday at Rush Green, [Mohammed Kudus](https://www.claretandhugh.info/kudus-is-a-crucial-target-clubs-decision-means-a-bucketload-more-cash-for-west-ham/) was another notable absentee. High profile offers and negotiations have been flying back and forth for the last week or so with West Ham’s chairman dealing with Spurs’ Daniel Levy and the potential re-entry of Chelsea into the bidding.
It does seem, though, that the Hammers are entering the final phase of negotiations.
As Kudus’ absence from training was explained yesterday, it was clearly _not_ a case of the Hammers protecting their asset from harm this close to a potential transfer. Unlike the Czech side Slavia Prague who have withdrawn their own’ asset’ [El Hadji Malick Diouf](https://www.claretandhugh.info/west-hams-diouf-pursuit-latest-club-preparing-for-defenders-departure/) from group training pending a satisfactory outcome, West Ham confirmed that the player himself had requested leave of absence from pre-season.
The Hammers’ spokesman communicating via _hammers.news_ yesterday confirmed more than just the reasoning behind Kudus’ absence: _“I think he doesn’t want to train at the moment._.” and then the confirmation that a deal is close: “_**Things will be resolved this week.”**_ Which is a pretty clear indication that the deal is almost done.
It also maps out the timescale for West Ham’s dependent incomings: A Kudus deal should enable West Ham to start getting deals for linked’ players -including El Hadji Malick Diouf, above, over the line.
The news last night that Sunderland had entered the fray for ‘wantaway’ Nayef Aguerd again suggests that the waiting to get player sales across the line might well be over soon.
So whilst it’ll be a ‘goodbye’ to Kudus and Aguerd, there’ll be ‘hello’s’ at last to move the squad forward. Amen to that.