West Ham “rejected” a proposal from Chelsea involving Mohammed Kudus and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall back in May, according to journalist Roshane Thomas.
Writing for The Athletic, Thomas confirmed that the offer could have been worth up to £70m:
“London rivals Chelsea were the front-runners and initially expressed interest in signing the 25-year-old winger in May. They planned to sign the Ghana international early in the window so he could join Enzo Maresca’s side ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup — a competition they would win — which started on June 15…”
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“Chelsea offered West Ham £40million ($54.2m) plus midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the swap deal, but their offer was rejected. Both clubs failed to reach an agreement and Dewsbury-Hall was later sold to Everton for £30m in August.”
Dewsbury-Hall was sold for £28m
Thomas’s figures are not exactly right. Chelsea ended up offloading Dewsbury-Hall to Everton for a fee worth up to £28m. It was an initial fee of £24m with another £4m in performance-related add-ons
It means that by selling Kudus to Tottenham for £55m, West Ham ended up losing out on around £9m to £13m.
West Ham strengthened their midfield with the Kudus money
While some fans may feel that turning down Dewsbury-Hall was a mistake, based on his first few performances for Everton, it should not be forgotten that the Irons have spent an initial £53m on two other midfielders, Soungoutou Magassa and Mateus Fernandes.
Both are younger than Dewsbury-Hall and fill two different roles in the middle of the park. It could be argued that the Kudus money has been put to better use, adding more numbers in a position that badly needed to be strengthened. Of course, only time will tell whether Magassa and Fernandes are the right signings or not.
Read more about the West Ham First Team Squad for 2025/26 here