Just how good is West Ham’s Kudos ?
West Ham signed Mohamed Kudos from Ajax in the 2023 summer transfer window. The Ghanan international cost £38 million, and so far looks like a bargain.
Kudos looked like a “man on a mission” according to West Ham fans after his performance against Newcastle in the 2-2 draw at St James Park. His last minute equaliser secure the team a point. A draw might not seem like much but when we consider it was against a Newcastle team that beat PSG 4-1 on the same pitch 4 days prior, it becomes ever more impressive.
His time playing under David Moyes has been surrounded with anticipation as the attacker has become known as another talented youngster from Ajax. With players like Antony, Donyell Malen, Frankie De Jong all recently coming through the Ajax system, Kudos seems like the next “world beater” Ajax have developed.
But kudos has had to fight for a spot in the team, and when the team have been performing as well as they have been, that’s no small task. “He has to play” is the general feeling around Kudos. Even if we forget the price tag, Kudos deserves a start. His odd few minutes in the league and Europa league debut start have shown more than enough to win over the fanbase. Finding a place for Kudos is a great problem for Moyes to have. With in form Bowen in kudos’ typical “off the right” position, it’s a hard problem to solve. Check out Charlie DeMatteo’s article discussing how Moyes could fit in kudos here.
During his time at Ajax, Kudos was highly praised and even tipped for the premier league:
Russian Pundit Arshavin Dramehdinho said “Kudus will be in the Premier League next season,” he said adding: “You know it and I know it,” while Vincent Brian said: “Kudus is Premier League material, he doesn’t deserve to play for Ajax, he can fit in well at Arsenal or Chelsea.”
Tyron Crowns said: “Mohammed Kudus is yet to feature in the Premier League but he’s got a better legacy than Bruno Fernandes and Phil Foden already.” But how does he compare ?
How does Kudos compare?
Kudos scored an impressive 18 goals and provided 7 assists over 2689 minutes during his last season for Ajax (2022-2023) in all competitions. His style of play was described as creative and free-flowing. Joel Odero sums him up by saying, “This boy is pure talent”.
Bruno perhaps isn’t the best comparison as he operates more centrally and is currently in a struggling Manchester United side. However in the 2022-2023 campaign he registered 14 goals and 15 assists in 5164 minutes across all competitions. Bruno is much less agile and energetic as kudos. Bruno dictates play in the central attacking midfielder position, picking cleaver passes and making smart runs into the box.
However Phil Foden is Kudos’ closest comparison. The Englishman scored 15 goals and gained 8 assists in 2660 minutes during his 2022-2023 campaign across all competitions, very similar to Kudos. Both teams are the pinnacle in their respective leagues. Both pep and various managers that served as Ajax head coach through last seasons campaign, all aimed to dominate games through possession and ball retention. And both teams are usually successful in doing so.
Maybe losing Kudos is why Ajax are currently sat third from the bottom in the Eredivisie. Either way West Ham fans will hope he can bing his talents over to the Premier League, where he looks to develop into a top talent.