There are upsides to every situation, it is just a case of looking for them – every cloud has a claret and blue lining. Last night the [Mohammed Kudus £84 million](https://www.claretandhugh.info/west-ham-dilemma-kuduss-form-nosedive-and-plummeting-transfer-value/) offer ‘incoming’ story broke with most West Ham watchers trying to work out whether it was good news or bad for the club and fans.
At his best – Mohammed Kudus is a match winner, a born entertainer and a crowd pleaser extraordinaire. Trouble is. ‘his best’ has evaporated. Just three days ago, [BBCsports](https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/czed4g63wreo) article titled _‘Mohammed Kudus is a shadow of the player of last season’ suggested :_
_“Quite frankly, something needs to happen. We are in a situation where Kudus is too good to be dropped but, equally, so out of form there will be other players in the squad itching to take his place.”_
Well, now something has. £85 million is his release clause so if the Saudi bid comes in, West Ham’s transfer fund will be boosted whist ‘starboy’ heads off into the sunset: he won’t be the only one. Widely reported that Luis Guilherme will be sold for anything approaching £20m, whilst – as is looking more likely from snippets picked up from those around the club, Lucas Paquetá may escape an FA ban and will likely follow Kudus out of the door even for a modest £30 million fee.
That is without the much written-about sales of Aguerd, Fullkrug, Emerson, Alvarez- the Hammers will need a big revolving door this summer.
Suddenly Graham Potter will have a wad of cash to go fill up the West Ham squad numbers. Replacing West Ham’s Crown Jewels in the summer with entertainers and skilful players is a huge challenge with no director of football. However Potter seems to know his own mind and I’d still rather have him running transfers than “Dave the ditherer” or “Steidten the splurger”. Suddenly with player sales, another £150 million summer spend is quite within West Ham’s reach- hopefully with better results than 2024.
Something to be both excited and trepidatious about as the Hammers crawl towards the end of a turgid yet deeply stressful 2024-5 season.