By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
The stars are beginning to align for the sale of Mateus Fernandes to Manchester United.
It is somewhat comforting to see the calm messaging coming from West Ham at the moment, which indicates the club will not be hurried or pressured into accepting a bid lower than their £85 million valuation.
The fact of the matter is that an offer somewhere near £80 million is likely to secure the Portuguese midfielder.
However, the club’s stance, coupled with the competition for his signature, has pushed Fernandes’ value from the £50 million bracket towards West Ham’s desired valuation.
Manchester United Move Into Position
As we reported yesterday, Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Manchester United were in talks with Fernandes’ agent Jorge Mendes.
Late last night, Sky Sports then reported that Manchester United were preparing a bid for the midfielder.
That would certainly tally with what Claret & Hugh were told yesterday.
There is now sufficient staffing in place at West Ham to facilitate transfer negotiations and, if the right offer arrives, conduct business.
Kretinsky Effect Already Being Felt
If there is one thing Daniel Kretinsky’s pending takeover has created, it is uncertainty among buying clubs that West Ham can be low-balled.
Under the previous regime, it had become common knowledge that David Sullivan was operating under pressure, with mounting debts hanging over the football club.
That inevitably weakened West Ham’s negotiating position.
Now the landscape appears very different.
With Kretinsky reportedly worth somewhere between £10 billion and £13 billion, depending on which newspaper you read, clubs should recognise that they are dealing with somebody who can afford to wait for the right price.
Finally Standing Firm
And that is exactly what West Ham seem to be doing.
The club have set their valuation and, thus far, shown little inclination to move from it.
Whether Fernandes ultimately joins Manchester United, Real Madrid, PSG or another interested club remains to be seen.
What is refreshing is that West Ham finally appear willing to stand their ground in the transfer market rather than accepting the first offer that comes along.
For a football club that has too often looked vulnerable in negotiations, that alone represents a significant change.
Hope you’re right Gonzo, the lowballing was a pain both in offers out and in. We seemed to buy high most of the time and sell low or we couldn’t get offers accepted because no one liked dealing with Sullivan.
This window will be interesting, how many assets can we hold onto and the ones we sell at what price can we realise in order to rebuild.
Also will we be free of Sullivan’s influence, has he actually gone as a director?
He resigned as a director last week.
Why does Kretinsky’s own net worth mean that other clubs will need to understand that they have to pay up? West Ham’s financials are what determines it’s health and whether or not it had penalties applied for not meeting the guidelines. Gone are the day that an owner (and even at this point he is a minority owner) could jam money in and make problems go away. Certainly with his increasing influence we look less desperate and hopefully better run but that doesn’t suddenly make us rich.
You’ve kind of answered your own question….
We have got to accept that the player wants to leave, so it is no point trying to hang onto him. You can understand a player of his class has ambitions and no one would want to play in the championship when you could be playing champions league football and win things. Footballers careers are fairly short, so you have to grab the chance when there. Yes it is a shame things weren’t different but hopefully we will now have something to look forward to.
I wish him all the best for the future, because he did give us his all.
Kretinsky doesn’t need to sell Fernandez,80-85 million is a snip .Potential age and sell on value all there and hasn’t even got man’s strength yet, next Declan Rice 2.0
I can’t wait for Fernandes to relegate Man Utd 😊⚒️⚒️
Kretinski will have a team of top businesspeople working for him, some will have football experience due to his interests in Slavia Prague. They will bring in relevant expertise if they feel they don’t have it themselves. It’s a different league to Sullivan.
Sparta Prague JA. Slavia is = to Millwall in Czechia
I guess we will still hamstrung by whatever financial sustainability rules we need to adhere to, with the need to sell a player or two (as per Villa and Toon) but it does feel like we have some decent people in place at the moment. Let’s hope the next few weeks see the circus truly leave town altogether and forever.
I guess we will still hamstrung by whatever financial sustainability rules we need to adhere to, with the need to sell a player or two (as per Villa and Toon) but it does feel like we have some decent people in place at the moment. Let’s hope the next few weeks see the circus truly leave town altogether and forever.
If only This had happened last summer with DK i doubt we would be in this position of having to sell such a quality player and could of kept him and added better players to the squad and become a real power in the Prem but then again i keep forgetting this is West Ham…i just hope when the dust has settled we actually have professional football negotiators who for once will not over pay or put players on over inflated wages.