Under fire Ghana manager Chris Hughton has made a Mohammed Kudus admission that will absolutely infuriate West Ham.
Just when West Ham think the club’s start to the new year could not get much worse it very much threatens to.
A glut of injuries to key Hammers stars, poor performances and results, an embarrassing cup upset and no progress on any much-needed signings have made it a January to forget for David Moyes and his players.
But perhaps the biggest blow has been the loss of West Ham star boy Mohammed Kudus to AFCON duty along with defender Nayef Aguerd.
The Irons will have been put on red alert overnight and fearing the worst, though.
Hughton’s Kudus admission will infuriate West Ham
Because Chris Hughton has made a Kudus admission that will absolutely infuriate West Ham.
Kudus has missed West Ham’s last three games after meeting up with Ghana for AFCON.
But the brilliant attacker has been recovering from a hamstring strain which would have seen him miss West Ham’s matches anyway.
Ghana fans were already furious with former Hammer Hughton when they failed to beat Namibia in a bore draw warm up game last week.
Angry fans sent a warning to Hughton and his players after that game after a year of terrible results under his tenure.
Hughton was then allegedly attacked by a fan at the team hotel following the Cape Verde defeat.
He is very much under pressure and people often make desperate decisions in those situations.
Star boy could be risked despite having hardly trained
And West Ham will not be happy after Hughton admitted he may well risk Kudus against Egypt on Thursday night despite the Hammers star having only trained for a couple of days since December 28th.
Hughton has told the press in Ivory Coast that he will leave it until the last possible moment to select Kudus for the game despite admitting he is not 100 per cent fit or ready.
“We will continue to assess him,” Hughton said last night.
“We have today and tomorrow morning to assess.
“He has trained the last few days, but we will assess him, as I say, today and tomorrow and make a decision tomorrow.”
While West Ham will be furious if Kudus is put at risk by being rushed back, Egypt boss Rui Vitoria said he hopes and believes the Hammers star will play.
West Ham on tenterhooks
He said: “I think it’s good for the tournament if the best players play all the games. Of course, he’s a fantastic player. He’s doing well in the Premier League.
“If he’s playing OK, you have to control him… We are thinking that the player will play.”
We explained in depth on Hammers News prior to the tournament that Kudus was likely to make an earlier return than expected from AFCON as Ghana are a woeful team under Hughton.
Many have assumed Ghana are one of the favourites to win AFCON. But that could not be any further from the truth.
And so it proved when they duly lost 2-1 to Cape Verde without West Ham star Kudus in the opening game.
We have since explained why that now means Kudus could well be back by the end of the month as Ghana face Egypt on Thursday night.
But that will be no good to West Ham if he is sent back having made his hamstring injury even worse.
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