When the West Ham team sheet came out and Mohammed Kudus was not on it, many fans thought it was an April Fool’s prank.
Kudus finally ended his long goal drought when he went on international duty with Ghana.
So the Hammers were hoping that would fill him with confidence to go on and have a strong finish to a disappointing season.
Not least because West Ham need to raise vital funds by offloading their most saleable asset this summer.
£85m Al-Nassr move for Kudus would save West Ham’s window
There is little to no money for transfers this summer due to PSR, according to the owners.
So all proceeds from player sales will go towards rebuilding the team for Graham Potter.
And as the latest defeat at Wolves proved, there is plenty of work to be done in that regard.
Kudus’ absence was not an April Fool’s, though, and despite having a woeful campaign in claret and blue, he was missed at Molineux.
The faded star boy has been linked with an £85m move to Al-Nassr over the last week – as reported by Give Me Sport.
It is widely known that Kudus has an £85m release clause in his West Ham contract active this summer.
Some fans thought the links over a big money move to Saudi – which reports have suggested Kudus is open to – may have been behind the 24-year-old’s absence at Wolves.
When it becomes clear a player is going to be leaving and with the Hammers having nothing left to play for but pride, that theory is understandable.
Potter has now explained why Kudus wasn’t in the West Ham squad.
Talk of the Al-Nassr move was a huge relief to West Ham, who desperately need the cash.
Especially as Kudus has scored just three goals all season and there were fears his value had plummeted to less than £50m.
Journalist shares major twist in West Ham’s Kudus situation
But now a journalist has shared a major twist in West Ham’s Kudus situation and it changes everything for Potter.
Ahead of the game with Wolves, Potter was brutally honest about Kudus’ poor season.
The Hammers boss admitted the Ghanaian has been below his standards, although pointed out his game is not just about goals and assists.
There has been reported interest from Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool in Kudus, prior to the Al-Nassr revelations.
West Ham won’t necessarily care where Kudus goes as long as they can bring in decent money to use on improving the squad.
But things have just become a lot more complicated.
Kudus update changes everything for Potter’s transfer plans
Florian Plettenberg is Sky Sports Germany’s top reporter.
And he has made an astonishing new claim about the clause in Kudus’ West Ham contract.
Plettenberg claims his sources have told him that Kudus’ £85m release clause is in fact even higher for Saudi clubs.
The journalist states that the £85m clause is only for European clubs and that if Al-Nassr want to him they will have to pay more.
That is a big blow to Potter’s plans as the Kudus sale is going to go a long way to funding his own summer signings.
In a further blow to Potter, Plettenberg claims Kudus does not necessarily want to move to Saudi this summer either.
He does however, insist enquiries have been made without any being concrete just yet.
Kudus may have the lofty clauses in his Hammers deal but that may not necessarily be as big an issue as it sounds.
It was the player backing himself to attract that kind of attention and bid from an elite club.
After his stunning debut season, that clause looked like it might be too cheap.
Now it looks laughably high to most.
However, West Ham can obviously accept bids lower than the release clause should they wish.
So the clause itself may be rendered irrelevant if there is no bidding war and West Ham are forced to accept lower than the £85m.
