West Ham United have completed the signing of Ajax playmaker Mohammed Kudus.
The Hammers fought off intense competition from some of Europe’s leading clubs to secure the services of the exciting Ghana international attacker from Ajax.
“We are delighted to welcome Mohammed Kudus to the club” The Premier league team confirmed via the club’s official Twitter handle.
The 23-year-old joins the Irons on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee, becoming the Club’s fourth major summer signing following his former Ajax teammate and Mexico international Edson Álvarez, Greece defender Dinos Mavropanos and England midfielder James Ward-Prowse.
Born in the suburb of Nima in Ghana’s capital city Accra in August 2000, Kudus joined the famous Right to Dream football academy at the age of ten. He spent seven years there before joining Danish club Nordsjælland at 17 in January 2018. The 5’9 player established himself as a regular at Nordsjælland. Playing as a striker or in a midfield role, he scored 14 goals in his 57 appearances across three seasons.
Kudus’ performances for Nordsjælland attracted the attention of Ajax, with then-head coach Erik ten Hag praising his ‘incredible potential’ following the then-19-year-old’s switch to Amsterdam in July 2020. That praise proved well-founded as the youngster scored one goal and assisted three more in his opening three appearances for the club.
The 2022/23 season saw Kudus take his game to a new level, with goals against Liverpool, Napoli and Rangers in the Champions League, eleven more in the Dutch Eredivisie and one each in the UEFA Europa League, Dutch Cup and Johan Cruyff Shield, taking his total to 19 goals and seven assists in all competitions.
Unsurprisingly, given those numbers, Kudus also started all three group games for Ghana at the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals in Qatar, where he netted twice in a 3-2 victory over South Korea. All in, he has seven goals and three assists in 24 caps for his country.
