Mohammed Kudus can do it all – no wonder half of Europe wants to sign him

The Athletic has live coverage of Ghana vs. Uruguay in World Cup 2022 Group H play. 

They huddled together in front of a projector screen to watch their idol on the biggest stage. 

Not so long ago, Mohammed Kudus was one of them: a young hopeful enrolled in Africa’s prestigious Right To Dream academy. Now he was leading the line for Ajax against Liverpool at Anfield in a glamour Champions League tie. 

That fixture two months ago was the pinnacle for him and them — the highlight of 22-year-old Kudus’ football career up to that point — and it quickly got even better.

In the 27th minute, he evaded the attentions of the great Virgil van Dijk in the penalty area and crashed a left-footed shot into the top corner of the net at the Kop End.

The celebrations were exultant — by Kudus and his team-mates on Merseyside, and those Right To Dream youngsters back home in Ghana, who were dancing on tables and chanting his name. For all the pride in his achievements, most important of all was the proof that anything was possible from here. If he could do it, so could they.

Because Kudus’ journey to the elite, starring for Dutch heavyweights Ajax in the Champions League and now at this World Cup, had not been without its setbacks.

He was left crushed by rejection after a trial with Feyenoord, another club in the Netherlands, in which he spent most of his time out of position at left-back. But six years after joining Right To Dream as a 12-year-old, he finally got his big chance in the summer of 2018, moving to FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark’s top flight.

He had always been talented but according to Ghana assistant coach Dramani Mas-Ud Didi, who worked with him both at Right To Dream and in Nordsjaelland, the move to the latter was “transformative”. 

“At Nordsjaelland, Kudus got his major education in football, where he developed various aspects of his game by playing in different positions as a central midfielder, false nine, wide midfield, and wide attacker,” Mas-Ud Didi told Ghanaian TV channel Joy Sports in 2020. 

Four and a half years on, one of the things that appeals most about Kudus is that versatility honed in Danish football.

During his time with Nordsjaelland he played in six different positions; as far back as defensive midfield and as high up as centre-forward. According to Opta data, 44 per cent of his minutes in their colours came in central midfield, with 35 per cent as a striker. The rest was fairly evenly spread among the other four roles. 

Kudus, though, always saw himself as a midfielder. He watched Barcelona as a child and grew up admiring the talents of Spain international Thiago Alcantara, who he wanted to emulate (and would play against that night at Anfield in September).

When the first batch of scouts from bigger clubs went to watch him in Denmark, they were struck by his confidence when taking the ball in the No 6 position and driving forwards. Short and squat, he was able to receive on the turn, hold off defenders and get his side on the front foot.

Suitably impressed, Ajax and Premier League side Everton both expressed an interest in his signature. Following a strong recommendation from his recruitment team, Everton’s then-manager Carlo Ancelotti was on board with the signing.

They were beaten to the punch, though, and Kudus joined Ajax for a fee of €9million. It has taken a while for him to show what he can do in Amsterdam, but now he is excelling. In 956 minutes of Eredivisie and Champions League action this season, he has scored nine goals and registered two assists. 

In the last six months, we have witnessed a breakthrough many had long expected. But what is it about him that makes him so coveted?

Even now, two years on from his arrival at Ajax, it is not quite clear what Kudus will become, but what is not in doubt is his ability.

The club’s then-manager Erik ten Hag, now in charge at Manchester United, saw enough in their time working together to label his former charge a “player with incredible potential.”

But the debate about his positional future continues.  

For Ajax, he has most recently been used as a false nine, after spending previous seasons in a deeper midfield role. 

Ten Hag’s successor Alfred Schreuder saw Kudus’ potential in a more advanced position, where he can use his talents closer to goal but also drop deeper when necessary to link with the midfield. 

Under Schreuder this season, Kudus has had a higher proportion of his touches closer to the opposition goal and in advanced wide areas.

“I did say to him (Kudus), ‘Don’t start thinking, “Oh dear, the trainer no longer sees me as a midfielder”.’ It is not like that,” Schreuder said earlier this season. “But I am charmed by him in the front.”

Ghana, by contrast, have deployed him differently in each of their two World Cup games so far.

In the first match, against Portugal, he played deeper as a box-to-box midfielder, making use of his ability in transition to spring his team away on counter-attacks.

Ghana sat deep and looked to frustrate Portugal, with Kudus their main outlet to relieve pressure.

Here, he finds space in midfield to receive the ball between the lines.

He is quickly closed down by Rubes Neves, who gets touch-tight…

… but he uses his body to roll Neves and sprint clear.

In the following match, against South Korea, he was stationed on the right wing and scored twice. 

What excites coaches, fans and scouts alike most about Kudus is his ability to influence games in different ways.

He is incredibly active out of possession, ranking in the top one percentile for ball recoveries among his positional peers in the Eredivisie over the past year. He is also in the top three per cent for tackles won and top 10 for tackles made in the attacking third. Against Portugal, he made six ball recoveries; that number rose to 10 against South Korea.

This clip from the recent friendly defeat to Brazil shows his quality off the ball.

Brazil’s goalkeeper Alisson takes possession and throws quickly in the direction of Vinicius Junior, launching a counter-attack.

But Kudus senses the danger and tracks the Real Madrid forward stride for stride…

… before he stops the move with a sliding tackle. Few players have the speed to match Vinicius, but Kudus proved here he is one of them.

That 3-0 defeat in September was punctuated with some fiery exchanges between Kudus and Neymar, and the young Ghanaian did not back down.

Not short of confidence, he recently told UK media outlet The Guardian: “He (Neymar) was defending his country and I was defending mine. I wasn’t about to let him push me around. What makes him better, for now, is that he has achieved a lot. I’ll get there soon.”

Kudus certainly has other elements needed to reach the top. He is a strong ball carrier and possesses a venomous left foot, as evidenced by that goal at Anfield.

Against Scotland’s Rangers a week earlier, Kudus had become the first player since Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry in 2020 to score a goal, provide an assist and complete all of his passes (in his case, 27 out of 27) in a single Champions League game.

He’s the all-round package. There is variety to his play and the goals he scores.

Take his double in the 3-2 win over South Korea on Monday.

For the first, Kudus is on the edge of the Korean penalty area as Ghana look to fashion a crossing position wide on their left.

He sets off for the six-yard box but sees possession being recycled and is forced to check his run…

… but when Jordan Ayew opens up his body for a cross, he drifts in between two defenders…

… and glances a header into the far corner.

For his second, he is stationed on the right corner of the box as a low cross comes in.

The ball evades the other two waiting attackers and Kudus drifts inside, sensing a chance…

… then opens his body out for a strike into the far corner.

Two different finishes, two emphatic results. 

Kudus might already be a Premier League player. 

Two years after missing out to Ajax, Everton returned to the table this summer, their interest undiminished by what was then a less-than-spectacular body of work for the Dutch club in the intervening period. 

Kudus was a top target for manager Frank Lampard and director of football Kevin Thelwell, identified as the man who could provide the team with a spark in attack. At that stage not a regular with Ajax, Kudus fancied a change and phone calls with Lampard convinced him he would have the right platform to develop at Goodison Park. 

Everton started to prepare for his arrival, initially on loan, only for Antony’s late-August move to Manchester United to apparently scupper a deal, with Ajax reluctant to lose any more talent in a window that also saw, among others, Ten Hag and centre-back Lisandro Martinez go to Old Trafford, midfielder Ryan Gravenberch join Bayern and striker Sebastien Haller leave for Borussia Dortmund.

Staff were on standby to swiftly complete a medical right up to the September 1 deadline and at one point Kudus even failed to report for training (“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to train, but I’m human and had a lot to deal with in a very short time,” he later said), but the Dutch side would not budge given the lack of time available to secure a replacement. 

Everton’s loss has been Ajax’s gain. In the past six months, Kudus has gone from bit-part player to breakthrough star and a player coveted across Europe. Dutch media have linked him to Everton’s Merseyside neighbours Liverpool, while there has also been talk of interest from Tottenham Hotspur — another of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’.

For now, at least, talk of a big-money move will have to wait. Kudus has unfinished business in Qatar.

The young hopefuls at Right To Dream will be watching again when Ghana face Uruguay in their Group H finale on Friday, hoping to see more moments of inspiration on the world stage.

But with Kudus’ star on the rise, this time so will everyone else.

GO DEEPER

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(Top photo: Maddie Meyer – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)