Divine Mukasa returned to Manchester City this summer after a good run while at Leicester City. He believed 2026 could finally be the year he would make the senior squad. A new manager was in the building. Enzo Maresca had replaced Pep Guardiola, and new managers look at everyone. Mukasa has a contract through 2030, a Premier League debut against West Ham last December, and every reason to think the door was opening.
In pre-season, Maresca did what new managers do. He took a long look at Rico Lewis, who was ready to step in. He looked at Ryan McAidoo, Kaden Braithwaite and Floyd Samba. Mukasa was in the conversation, but not at the center of it, and then City went shopping.
The target was Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi, a midfielder born the same summer as Mukasa. When City began talks with Lille in mid-August, a club source says, the message for Mukasa was clear. If Bouaddi was coming in, he was going out. City completed the Bouaddi deal on August 26 for up to £85.6 million and just a few days earlier, Mukasa was on his way back to East London. But how did it happen?
According to a club source, City’s first idea for Mukasa was Girona, where he could help another City Football Group club chase promotion. Mukasa said no. He didn’t want to go to a different country. West Ham was never part of City’s plan. It was Mukasa who raised it, the academy kid who left for Manchester at 15 and wanted to return to the club where it all began.
Nils Koppen, West Ham’s director of player recruitment, laid out how that conversation went on the club’s Iron Cast podcast. Mukasa, he said, was “a boy that was desperate to come back,” and told them: “The only club I want to come to is West Ham.” Koppen was struck by how composed he was for an 18-year-old. “So mature” was his phrase. Koppen said West Ham had walked away from targets this summer over character concerns. Mukasa cleared that hurdle easily. “He’s desperate to be here,” Koppen said, “so again it ticks a lot of boxes.”
The football fit was just as neat. A club source tells The Hammer Times that Nuno Espírito Santo had been looking for a number 10. He felt his system was missing what the club lost when Lucas Paquetá left in January, and Mukasa offered much of what the squad lacked. Koppen had been hunting down options to fill the void, but the options weren’t presenting themselves. Supporters kept hearing and debating the same names: Gustavo Sá, James McAtee, Harvey Elliott. Mukasa made the most sense. West Ham announced the season-long loan on August 21, making him the club’s sixth signing of the summer.
Koppen said he spent a lot of time with Nuno working out where Mukasa would play and what he would add. Whatever they planned, it has worked quickly. “Maybe even quicker than we all thought,” Koppen said. Against Wolves, Mukasa scored twice in a 4-2 win, West Ham’s first of the Championship season, including a 25-yard strike that went in off the underside of the crossbar. Nuno said afterward he was delighted, not only with the goals but with the positions Mukasa took in midfield. Koppen described the day Mukasa walked back through the door in simple terms. It was “coming home.”
Can Mukasa’s Homecoming Be Permanent?
A club source says that Mukasa has not said publicly whether he would stay in East London. He has, though, told friends and teammates that if the opportunity ever comes, he would not be the reason it doesn’t happen. For a player to say that about a club he left, it is as close to a commitment as a loanee can give without breaking the rules.
On the money side, the club may hold a quiet advantage. West Ham insider @ExWHUEmployee reported that when City sell Mukasa to any club, West Ham are entitled to a 25 percent sell-on clause. West Ham could give that up as part of a deal with City, and that would put them in a better position than any rival buyer. City currently value him at £35 million, though a monster season would raise that.
There is a complication. The loan reportedly carries no buy option, so any permanent move would need a fresh negotiation. Koppen has kept the lines open with City and has expressed interest in making the move permanent. Speaking in general terms about the deals West Ham chased this summer, he put the process simply: clubs often don’t want to sell, but “every player has a price.” Although he wasn’t talking directly about Mukasa, it shows how Koppen approaches this kind of negotiation.
If Mukasa becomes indispensable in Nuno’s system, Koppen will have little choice but to do everything he can to bring him back, especially if West Ham are promoted.
And there is one more variable, which sits entirely outside West Ham’s control. City were reported on September 25 to have been found guilty on 114 of the 115 charges in the Premier League’s financial case. They are appealing; a hearing is expected in mid to late January, and no sanction has been announced. If City ever faced expulsion, they would want to keep every promising young player they could to help climb back. Mukasa could be one of them. There is no way to know whether that is shaping their thinking. For now, the player who wanted West Ham more than anywhere else is exactly where he asked to be. What happens after May depends on three parties: City, West Ham, and Mukasa himself.
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