Agent confirms that Chelsea agreed terms with Mohammed Kudus before he moved to West Ham United. (Photo by MAURICE VAN STEEN/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
Mohammed Kudus’s agent Jen Mendelewitsch has now disclosed that Chelsea were favourites to sign the former Ajax Amsterdam forward before West Ham United swooped in to sign him in the 2023 summer transfer window.
He also revealed the West Londoners made an attractive offer but never followed it up with another proposal, as they spent the last few days of the transfer pursuing Moises Caicedo. In the end,
The Blues were in need of an attacking midfielder following the exit of Mason Mount and thought Kudus would be an ideal replacement for Mount. However, they never showed concrete interest despite being frontrunners to land the 20-year-old.
They spent most of their energy recruiting Caicedo, who was their top priority signing, then later moved on to acquire Romeo Lavia, while Kudus joined Chelsea’s London rivals West Ham. In many ways, we could argue Liverpool certainly played a role in us missing out on Kudus.
Now the former Ajax midfielder’s agent has revealed some insight into how the Blues came close to signing the 23-year-old. Speaking to the French publication After Foot RMC via X, he said:
“We reached an agreement with Chelsea, we agreed the contract with Chelsea but the deal was not done. He talked with the coach but in the end, it didn’t happen because Chelsea made a ridiculous offer to Ajax. The truth is that they were completely focused on the transfer of (Moises) Caicedo which took up all their energy.”
Our first priority was Caicedo, and losing out on his signing would have been a big blow for us. We had been interested in the Ecuadorian midfielder since January of last year, and in the summer transfer window, we finally managed to buy him, shattering the previous British transfer record.
Had Chelsea been serious about Kudus, they might have made a strong offer for his services. As we saw with Caicedo, the club isn’t averse to splashing the cash. However, Kudus does not appear to have been very high on the list for us to take drastic measures.
Although Kudus is a fantastic player his decision to join Hammers has been a wise move as there he is getting good game-time. We already have enough midfielders in the form of Enzo Fernandez and Carney Chukwuemeka; therefore, it’s acceptable that we didn’t sign him. Both of them can fill the role of the player who prefers to play higher up the pitch.
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