West Ham Q&A Transfer Special: Is Mohammed Kudus to Chelsea? What is the truth about the summer budget? And which three goals are on the list of Graham Potter?

It was not the happiest start of the Summer Cans Fander in West Ham.

After last year’s publication that never fully fulfilled the editions of about £ 140 million, the most important transfer stories around the Hammers are the reports they are about to lose one of their best players, Mohammed Kudus.

But let’s not think about Doom and gloom – well, we might have to do it a bit – and let’s see what West Ham can do to improve this season in the transfer market, after a disappointing 14th place in the Premier League.

We have transferred the call for your questions about all things, and here our West Ham expert James Sharpe reveals everything you need to know. Let’s start (sorry) with the gloomy stuff …

Are Chelsea Really in for Mohammed Kudus?

Let’s start with a disclaimer: we all know what the Bring the window over is like.

Clubs on both sides want to play a story about what happens when they jostle for negotiation. Agents would like to run their own yarn to get their customers the best deal.

It is therefore not surprising that in recent days we have heard a series of similar but not identical stories about Chelsea and Mohammed Kudus. Chelsea offered a couple of players plus cash for Kudus, West Ham offered Kudus to Chelsea, and so on.

First, Kudus wants to go. Secondly, West Ham would also like him to go, because he is the player who most likely to pop up substantial money for a summer.

As far as I understand, there has been contact by Chelsea to register their interest in Kudus. Although no official offer has yet been made, there is informal talk about acceptable figures. Let’s call them early verbal bids!

Chelsea players who move in the other direction have also appeared in discussions, with The hammers Understanding to have asked about the situations of Robert Sanchez and midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

However, it is not just Chelsea. Mail -sport was told that West Ham has been interested in various other clubs in Kudus, both in the Premier League And abroad.

The Ghana International has a release clause of £ 85 million, which goes up to £ 125 million for Saudi clubs, but in the opinion of this reporter they will be lucky to get so much for a player who scored five goals in 35 performances in a club that others want to sell before they can buy.

Do we really have no money to spend?

West Ham’s consistent message in recent months is that the club has to sell players before they can buy to stay in accordance with PSR rules. A senior club source repeated that again Mail -sport In recent days.

And while an article appeared Athletics This week that West Ham suggested that West Ham was one of the Premier League clubs most safe for PSR and could lose up to £ 95 million without falling the regulations, which seems to be at odds with the club position.

It is always useful to preach poverty when you go to a negotiation, and this is a story that West Ham -fans know all too well – but there are also reasons to see why the garden may not be so rosy.

This is a club that has spent the best part of £ 250 million on players in the past two years, has already blown up, aging team on large wages and is now a club that has earned less prize money than in recent years and no longer has European football.

And don’t forget that they spent money before they even started this summer, now the loan movement of Jean-Clair Todibo has been made permanent for almost £ 33 million.

Are negotiations considerably advanced with important goals?

Please don’t shoot at the messenger, but: not really.

This week I spoke with a source that said there was nothing important ahead. Again, whether it is justified or not, it all comes down to the necessity (or wish) to sell before they buy.

There are many discussions in progress, some positive, but are still supposed to be at an early stage. Look, it’s still the first week of June. The window is only open for a few days. I know we are all impatient when it comes to transfers.

With the risk of being the wearer of even more depressing news, when I asked a senior source in the club this week if they quickly had faith in a sale, they answered that they were not because other clubs were ‘short of money’.

Who are the realistic goals?

When it comes to West Ham and the transfer window, there are always bundles of names that are tied in this foolish season.

Now that Graham Potter is in charge, it is easier to get an idea of ​​whether they are useful. Potter has made it clear that he wants to lower the age of the team, dominate matches with attacking football with dynamic players and bringing in players with resale value.

That is why Club Brugge -Midfielder Raphael Onyedika is a realistic target. The 24-year-old central midfielder has made an impression in the Belgian league and enters the last two years of his contract, so that West Ham could get him for a considerable price. Until now it is assumed that conversations have been positive.

Brondby striker Mathias Kvistgaarden is also a target. The Hammers have followed him since the turn of the year, when Potter took the lead, and at the age of 23 there is room for development and for resale with the Danish club looking for bids around £ 12 million for a player who held in 23 goals in all competitions.

Similarly, the strong recent ties with the 20-year-old Belgian striker Lucas Stassin in Saint-Etienne are logical. It is a position that West Ham should strengthen, it fits the profile, has excellent statistics under strikers under the age of 21 in the top competitions of Europe and the French club probably accepts a reduced price of £ 18 million after their relegation to Ligue 2.

That is also the reason why I would tension if there was a concrete interest in expensive, lagging Manchester United wing player Jadon Sancho, who was connected in recent days.

Why is Graham Potter on vacation when the window is open?

Relax, he’s no longer. There has been a lot of grumbling on social media since the window opened that the West Ham boss was on holiday after the end of the season and did not place the hard yards in negotiation agreements.

Potter insisted that he would be heavily involved in the recruitment process and said that even when he was on vacation, he would always be a ‘phone call or zooms away’.

Give the man a break. And anyway, he leaves much of the heavy work in the hands of his head of recruiting Kyle Macauley, which was described Mail -sport This week as a ‘planner’ and ‘no Lastminute.com kind of guy’.

If that is the case, they should not leave it until the end of July to get some players out of the house!

Is there anyone who is not for sale to clear funds?

Not really. In the words of the former wrestler Ted Dibian, “everyone has a prize.”

Of course, Kudus is the most important thing that is likely to be sold, but Potter would be open to listening to offers for almost all his team. Emerson, Edson Alvarez, Konstantinos Mavropanos could all come if the interest occurs.

And look, if someone came in with an £ 200 million bid for Jarrod Bowen, the club would be difficult to reject it. But that is very unlikely and of course Potter would rather stay his Talisman and club captain to help the club move forward next season. So, in all respects and purposes, you can say that it is not for sale.

Bowen is supposed to be happy with West Ham (you have to be when you are just married in the Dyer family!) And his contract runs until 2030.

Who are the goalkeeper goals of West Ham?

West Ham was interested in ex-liverpool keeper Cooimhin Kelleher before he made the decision to sign for Brentford.

Potter still wants a new keeper with Lukasz Fabianski who leaves and Alphonse Areola who have shown too many weaknesses this season as the ideal first choice, especially under a manager who wants his team to be better in possession and builds from behind.

In addition to discussing Sanchez with Chelsea, who worked with Potter during his time in West, there is interest in colleague Blues Keeper Djordje Petrovic. Freiburg keeper Noah Atubolu is also on the radar.

The club is said to have held early conversations with Aaron Ramsdale, who would like to strive for Southampton after the relegation of their wage account. But again, if saints want £ 20 million for him, West Ham will first have to get some players out of the door.