Julen Lopetegui is playing a really dangerous game with Mohammed Kudus at West Ham

Mohammed Kudus is the best, most talented and naturally gifted player at West Ham United as far as I’m concerned.

West Ham signed Mohammed Kudus from Ajax last summer, but he has already hinted that his ambition is to play for a huge club chasing major honours.

The Ghanaian cost the Hammers around £38 million (Sky Sports), and he has already proven to be worth more than his weight in gold for us.

Julen Lopetegui would surely have been incredibly excited to work with him, and Kudus clearly thinks the same about the Hammers head coach.

The West Ham winger recently explained how the Spaniard told him how he wants to implement some real attacking football at the London Stadium.

Exciting times ahead indeed.

Unfortunately for the Hammers though, it has been claimed that Mohammed Kudus could be sold next summer in order to help finance the permanent deal to sign Jean-Clair Todibo.

He has an £85 million release clause will come into effect next summer (The Athletic) – one that will undoubtedly prove tempting to some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

Kudus has bagged 14 goals and six assists in 47 games for the Hammers – a fantastic return considering he’s only been with us for 12 months.

The former Ajax man is an all-action superstar in the making, and there is no limits to what he can achieve in the game.

Keeping him at the London Stadium beyond the end of of the summer of 2025 should be one of Lopetegui’s main priorities in my opinion.

However, the Spaniard quite simply isn’t helping himself regarding that right now.

Lopetegui playing dangerous game with Mohammed Kudus at West Ham

The Ghana international winger has been truly sensational for the Hammers since joining us from Ajax last summer.

And despite his brilliance for West Ham, he recently insisted that there is still plenty more to come from him.

That’s one seriously exciting thought. However, I’m sure that Kudus could be even better than he already is for West Ham right now.

That’s because Lopetegui insists on playing him out wide on the left – a position where he just isn’t as effective as he should be.

It was no surprise that Kudus’s best moment of the game came during the first-half, when he picked the ball up centrally before beating four Crystal Palace players with amazing skill and strength.

The problem with having him out wide on the left is that when he does beat his man, he invariably has to just a whip a cross into the box.

If he were more central, the 24-year-old would have far more shots on goal, and he would be a lot more potent for the Hammers.

The Ghana international would also be very useful out on the right wing. That way he could cut inside onto his favoured left foot.

However, we all know that that won’t be possible, with Jarrod Bowen holding down that position…unless Lopetegui plans to play the skipper through the middle?

Lopetegui has a lot of options, but the best one would be to move Lucas Paqueta back out to the left, and have Mohammed Kudus operating centrally for West Ham.

That way, we will get the best out of him, and more goals and assists on top of it as well.

The Ghanaian is the best and most talented footballer at the London Stadium in my eyes. Lopetegui is playing a dangerous game by playing him out of position.

The worst case scenario is that Mohammed Kudus becomes unhappy with his role at West Ham and pushes for an exit.

Obviously none of us want that. I really hope we start to see Lopetegui playing the former Ajax man either in the middle behind the main striker, or out wide on the right with Bowen up front.