West Ham United manager David Moyes has revealed John Heitinga’s role in the signing of Ghana star Mohammed Kudus.
The Ghana international worked under the former Dutch defender at Ajax last season and produced an outstanding performance.
The pair switched to join the Hammers before the start of the 2023/24 football season.
Heitinga initially joined the Premier League club as an assistant coach before the arrival of the Black Stars midfielder.
West Ham United had to turn to Mohammed Kudus after failing to snap up Joao Palhinha from Fulham.
And according to Moyes, Heitinga was instrumental in the acquisition of the Ghana star.
“I met Johnny in the summer a couple of times before I brought him in,” Moyes said. “I’d had some meetings him but I was also asking him about the Ajax players and what might be there.
“I didn’t know I was going to end up getting them because they were two lads on our list of recruitment. We were keen on getting Joao Palhinha from Fulham and we didn’t get him. We were obviously looking to see who we could try and get after that. James Ward-Prowse was high on my list no matter what.
“But I was able to talk to Johnny about Edson and then Mo when he started to become a consideration. Steven Pienaar has been at Ajax as well and he was one of my ex-players [at Everton] so I phoned him about them too.”