West Ham will face a new recruitment challenge now that the deal to sell Mateus Fernandes is pencilled in: The young Portuguese midfielder looks set to join Tottenham any day once the final details are ironed out.
Fernandes carried the weight of West Ham’s midfield upon his shoulders last season, as the club’s sole creative player, and one through whom most of the transition play was channeled.
The prospect of youngsters Lewis Orford and George Earthy stepping up immediately seems unlikely, so the main task for the Hammers this summer is to get on and sign a replacement ready to hit the ground running when the Championship kicks off in August.
Leading the list of likely replacements at present is ‘top prospect’ (exWHUEmployee) Martin Adeline from French side Troyes.
“[Ex] exclusively revealed interest in him at the start of the window, and this interest still remains. The midfielder has scored 11 goals in 55 league games and represented France at under-19 and 20 level.
“West Ham face competition from both RC Lens and FC Lorient, who are keeping close tabs on the midfielder, potentially offering him a top-flight return in France.”
And it seems action will be gathering pace now that the Fernandes deal is done:
“Once the Fernandes money arrives at the club, we are expected to make a move for the Frenchman”
Adeline is considered: ” a dynamic, right footed attacking midfielder: Renowned as a creative playmaker, he excels at finding dangerous positions inside the penalty box, delivering incisive passes, and combining elite goal-scoring with high chance creation.” (conceptscouting). Claimed to be valued at €10m, with 10 goals and 10 assists in 32 Ligue 2 appearances this season.
One to watch once the Fernandes deal is signed and sealed but by no means the only attacking midfielder on West Ham United’s summer radar.
Agree Fernandes was sole creative midfielder, but barely used as such by NES – which is worrying about this manager. He was usually tangled up in defensive duties, but when he got a chance he did pull strings. Nor was he ever deployed in a no.10 position, which seems such an obvious thing to do given his ability, while WHU had defensive midfielders able to cover. We must have been one of the only teams who kind of bypassed midfield the majority of the time.
With players such as Adeline, recommendations from Koppen (he must know European leagues well) possibly Jorge Mendes/NES and various scouts, keeping a few players who have the right character & ability, this is going to be interesting. Not sure what to reckon of academy prospects, apart from remaining stubbornly hopeful.
Just hope the manager makes the team play good football, because has the right setup for it and league to do it in. No idea how Wolves played when promoted under him.
The acquisition of Vlad Coufal will not take much out of the new found kitty.
He will be low maintenance pay wise. He absolutely loves it at West Ham. He would help with the promotion push. A reliable senior figure and a current international to boot.
Wondering if the Lowball offers will still be happening!
Let’s not get too excited about money we get in being spent on transfers straight away. There are bills (existing outgoing transfer obligations) to be dealt with first.
Mr Kretinsky has that covered and still have parachute fund.
Kretinsky is only the largest shareholder at the moment. He can’t just recapitalize the club on his own. By the time we’ve paid Southampton and agents we’re probably taking thirty million out of Fernandes sale. That will improve what is last year’s financials but the idea that we’re about to go on a spending spree with one player sold is rather optimistic. Also think of all the players we will be showing the door to who we will likely make losses on.
I don’t know where you get £30m being taken out of the Fernandes deal. Even 15% of the sale rather than profit would only be £12.75m (£7.05m if from the profit). So you believe agents get £17 – £23 million out of it?