West Ham head coach Julen Lopetegui has played down the incident with Mohammed Kudus after the player was substituted against Brentford.

The Ghanaian was hooked at half-time last weekend and, while Lopetegui admits that the forward was not pleased with his decision, he insisted he wasn’t singling out the player, citing the fact that Emerson Palmieri was also taken off:

“It is normal that when you change one player he is not going to be happy but the most important thing always is the team. It was a tactical substitution, no more. It wasn’t only him, Emerson came out too.”

“It is normal, when you have five substitutions you try to change any things that you think you can do better in the second half, above all if you are losing. I don’t talk about any reaction or one substitution, for me the whole thing was normal.”

It will be interesting to see if Kudus starts against Ipswich

Lopetegui used the word “normal” three times in his response about the Kudus situation, which shows that he is keen to play down the seriousness of the issue.

However, if Kudus is left on the bench when the Hammers take on Ipswich Town this afternoon, it may suggest that there is something more going on.

The controversy has sparked transfer rumours about the West Ham star

Players can get upset with their managers for all sorts of reasons but the fact that Kudus is regarded as one of the club’s best players meant that the incident did prompt more discussion about a potential transfer.

The 24-year-old’s decision to attend Arsenal’s game against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening was always going to feed speculation. Moreover, the fact that his £85m release clause will be reactivated next summer means there are likely to be plenty more stories between now and May.

Find out who is in West Ham’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here