English Premier League side, Brighton & Hove Albion has reportedly agreed to sign Black Stars player Mohammed Kudus – beating Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United to the Ajax star.
Kudus has been linked with all four Premier League sides over the summer, off the back of a terrific season for Ajax where he recorded 18 goals and seven assists across all competitions.
He also caught the eye at the Qatar World Cup, scoring two goals in the group stage for Ghana.
It seemed that Chelsea was leading the race for his signature, given that Arsenal need to trim their squad before making new signings and United has been focusing on other positions, though Erik ten Hag remains a big fan of his former player.
Furthermore, reports in July claimed that the Blues had agreed personal terms with the attacking midfielder and they had even held initial talks with the Dutch giants over a fee.
However, The Athletic now reports that Brighton has swooped in to hijack the move and has reached an agreement in principle to sign Kudus for £ 34.5 million – a club-record fee.
Personal terms are close to being finalized and if all goes well the 23-year-old’s transfer will become the Seagull’s most expensive player of all-time, overtaking £30m forward Joao Pedro who moved from Watford earlier this summer.
Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi is a huge fan of Kudus (Photo: Getty)
Roberto De Zerbi is said to be a huge fan of Kudus and was keen to sign him ahead of the club’s first season playing in Europe, having lost key midfielder Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool earlier in the window.
The South Coast side has also sold goalkeeper Robert Sanchez to Chelsea but is holding fast on their £100m valuation of Moises Caicedo who is another top target for the Blues.
The Ajax star will play with his Blackstar colleague, Tariq Lamptey if the deal is completed.