The Eredivisie club's top scorer might keep up his impressive run in Friday's exhibition match against Brazil.
Ajax's striker Kudus has had a fascinating few weeks, ranging from absenteeism in an attempt to force a transfer to Everton to being the club's in-form forward who can do no wrong.
Kudus has scored a few of incredible goals, the best of which was a stunning effort against Anfield.
GOAL takes a closer look at some of the statistics that have defined the Ghanaian international's impressive scoring streak, and explains why 22-year-old Otto Addo should be pleased with his opportunistic run.
Scoring rate
Kudus’ four Eredivisie strikes have come in seven appearances, with only two being starts.
The Ghana international is scoring a goal every 60 minutes, although this is not the best frequency in the Dutch top flight among players to have scored more than once — Feyenoord’s Santiago Gimenez has found the back of the net twice from five substitute appearances, with those goals coming every 55 minutes.
Among Champions League participants to have netted at least twice, only nine outdo Kudus who is averaging a goal every 88 minutes — a list that includes Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski who respectively are scoring every 55, 60 and 60 minutes.
Breakdown of goals
The 22-year-old Ghanaian has scored four goals in the Eredivisie, all of them coming from inside the box.
No outsiders have been responsible for any of Kudus' attacks in Europe, so far.
Surprisingly, the in-form striker has scored four of his six goals (in all competitions) with his left foot.
Best goal
It was a memorable and meaningful goal for Kudus to score in Europe's highest-level tournament.
After collecting a pass from Calvin Bassey in the left half-space, the Ghana international still had a lot of work to do, but he kept his cool, twisted Rangers right-back James Tavernier, carried the ball into the box, and arrowed an attempt past Jon McLaughlin that went in off the far post.
The goal scored by the red-hot attacker at Anfield beats out the one scored by the Scottish giants.
Kudus finished off a 25-pass move against Liverpool after Alfred Schreuder's team successfully held the ball out of Liverpool's hands for a whole 84 seconds.
It was a beautiful finish as Kudus got the ball from a Steven Berghuis cut-back, took a touch to separate himself from Virgil van Dijk, and then blasted his shot against the underside of the bar before Allison Becker could position himself.
It was the finishing touch to a brilliant team effort.
Underrated movement
Kudus's smart positioning away from the ball, which has resulted in high-probability opportunities or shot attempts, has also stood out.
These traits were on full display in his goals against Cambuur, when he created space for a tap-in, against Heerenveen (5-0 win), where his second goal was again scored in a similar fashion, and against AZ Alkmaar (1-0 win) on Sunday.
This past month, Kudus has been involved in two noteworthy events that did not result in a goal but did highlight his knowledge of the finest locations to occupy.
After a beautiful Ajax play left the right back one-on-one with the Gers' shot-stopper, he could have scored a tap-in from six yards out in the 4-0 victory against Rangers, but Devyne Rensch wisely decides to fire instead.
Kudus made space for himself after a cross into the box against Sunday's opponents, AZ, and scored the game-winning goal. As a result, the Ghanaian was able to take a touch in the chaos when Steven Bergwijn found him, but Dani de Wit was able to clear the ball off the line to preserve the score's disparity with 20 minutes left to play.
After 10 minutes, the ball was sent inside the right channel by Dusan Tadic, and the Ghana international shifted to the far post in the hopes of being picked out by the Serbian. The Ajax captain instead decides to play a cutback to Edson Alvarez, but his pass to Bergwijn is blocked on the goal line, preventing an equalizer.
After an advantageous block by Tijjani Reijnders, the ball bounces off of AZ goalkeeper Hobie Verhulst and into the path of Kudus, but the angle is too steep for the hot-shooting striker to capitalize.
However, the youthful attacker's sense of when to take advantage of favorable spaces and locations should result in "easy" goals in the future.
Sustainability
For how much longer can Kudus maintain this pace?
The Ajax forward has scored six goals on nine shots on target over the course of the previous five games, with Expected Goals (xG) of 0.3 accounting for both of his goals in the Champions League.
A more accurate number would be seven goals from nine shots on target, given that one of the attempts was blocked by Arizona.
Although Kudus' ability to find the back of the net is undeniable, his 40 percent goal conversion rate in the Eredivisie is unlikely to be maintained in the long run and a return to the norm may be anticipated at some point.
Since the study is based on such a short number of games, it is important to keep an eye on his performance over the next few months to make sure he continues to improve.
Otto Addo’s Kudus prayer
Even Inaki Williams, once of Athletic Club, has joined the ranks of the renegades.
The Ayew brothers, on the other hand, are either unproductive (Jordan) or playing in non-competitive divisions (Andre), and the attacker is not the most prolific in La Liga.
Kamaldeen Sulemana hasn't been at his best, Felix Afena-Gyan is stuck on the Cremonese bench, and Benjamin Tetteh hasn't deposited a dime at Hull City.
Though the Ajax forward may not start in a key attacking position against Brazil or at the World Cup, having Kudus in this condition is a boon for Addo.
