Chelsea got as far as agreeing personal terms with Mohammed Kudus prior to his £38m summer transfer to West Ham, but the proposed move broke down because of the “lowball” offer put forward to Ajax, the player’s agent has confirmed.
The Blues embarked on another summer of heavy transfer spending, forking out vast chunks of money on Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi and Cole Palmer among others.
Kudus had been of interest to both Manchester United, having previously worked with Erik ten Hag at Ajax, and Arsenal, but, as 90min revealed in July, Chelsea were the first suitor to push ahead with something more concrete and engaged in negotiations with the player’s camp.
Brighton, who later went on to land Ansu Fati on loan from Barcelona instead, were the first club to agree a fee with Ajax for Kudus. But their £34.5m approach didn’t result in a transfer going ahead once West Ham eventually agreed their own deal with Ajax after a couple of rejected bids.
In an appearance on RMC’s radio station, agent Jen Mendelewitsch discussed Chelsea’s interest in her client, suggesting that things broke down when it came to agreeing a number with Ajax.
“Chelsea agreed terms with Kudus,” she explained, before also revealing that the Blues “low-balled the offer” to Ajax in the region of €20m (£17.5m). There was even a hint that long-term efforts trying to sign Caicedo, which Chelsea eventually did for £115m, was all-consuming.
“The truth is that at Chelsea they were completely taken by the transfer of Caicedo, which took all their energy,” Mendelewitsch said.
Kudus joined Ajax from Danish club Nordsjaelland in 2020 shortly before turning 20, although it wasn’t until last season that he became a regular with the Amsterdam club and truly announced himself. He scored 18 goals in all competitions during the breakout campaign, including four in the Champions League, as well as impressing for Ghana at the World Cup in Qatar.
Since arriving at West Ham, the versatile 23-year-old has scored twice in eight appearances across all competitions but is actually yet to start a Premier League game.
