There is a release clause in the contract of West Ham forward Mohammed Kudus, according to The Athletic reporter David Ornstein.

The Ghanaian international only joined from Ajax for £38m last year but Ornstein says a number of other Premier League teams are keeping tabs on the player:

“In terms of Kudus, there’s a release clause too. He’s newer to the club, he’s done fantastically well so far, I suspect he’d be looking to stay for a bit longer. But we don’t know, there’s always interest in him, multiple clubs showed that before he ended up joining West Ham.”

“I think we reported on the likes of Arsenal, definitely Brighton. Manchester United have been rumoured admirers of him for a long time and many others. Chelsea were another one too.”

Will Kudus leave West Ham this summer?

A lot will depend on the size of the buyout fee. Ornstein didn’t go into details about the figures but it would be surprising if it isn’t at least double what the Irons paid for the winger.

Kudus has put in some impressive performances since arriving at the London Stadium, scoring 13 goals and providing 5 assists in 42 appearances but they are not the sort of numbers that would necessarily lead to a sizeable bid being tabled for him.

As Ornstein mentions, the expectation is that the 23-year-old will remain at West Ham for slightly longer.

Another high-profile player could depart the club

While it seems likely that Kudus won’t be moving anywhere this summer, the same cannot be said of Luca Paqueta. Like Kudus, the Brazilian does have a release clause, and it has reportedly been set at £85m.

Paqueta himself has said that he is happy at West Ham but, if a team like Manchester City do pay the required fee, there is nothing the club can do if he does want to move.