Back to the football for a second: West Ham’s summer transfer window will undoubtedly include wholesale sell-offs with the club’s outstanding transfer debt and last season’s losses precluding keeping a failed squad together (even if that were desirable).
Different opinions suggest between five and fifteen departures are likely in the next three months.
Top of the list is likely to be Mateus Fernandes: West Hams biggest asset and the one player whose sale is likely to secure a profit large enough to make a significant dent in the debt. Anecdotally, Fernandes has been linked with a move to Michael Carrick’s Manchester United, quite possibly owing to the Fernandes – Bruno Fernandez Portugal tie – in.
However it seems there are signs that European giants Real Madrid may be stirring themselves into action: According to football transfers.com:
“Jose Mourinho wants Mateus Fernandes
Mourinho will be appointed as the new Real Madrid manager if Florentino Perez wins the presidential election against Enrique Riquelme, with a deal in place to bring him back to the club after an impressive season in charge of Benfica.
It’s understood that Inter Milan right-back Denzel Dumfries and Liverpool centre-back Ibrahima Konate will become Mourinho’s first two signings of his second spell at Los Blancos, while the Spanish giants are also expected to trigger their buy-back clause on Como attacker Nico Paz.
However, Mourinho also wants Real Madrid to complete the signing of Fernandes, as per AS, as he looks to freshen up the midfield options at the Bernabeu”
Of course these Presidential run-offs at Madrid are famous for the rhetoric and transfer promises made in advance: All if’s and but’s at this stage but quite likely it will harden West Ham’s resolve to stick to their £80 million asking price for Fernandes, knowing that there may be an extra layer of competition for his signature.
Manchester United have long disagreed with the Irons’ £80m valuation, so the news of Mourinho’s intent will do the Hammers no harm in the quest to extract every cent possible for a player they hope to double their cash on within twelve months.
West Ham turning a profit on a player is a rare phenomenon indeed, only half a dozen times have the club actually sold well to generate a ‘P’ for the ‘PSR’ equation, Mohammed Kudus being the most recent. It would bode well for the post – Sullivan era if the Hammers banked another £40 million on top of what they paid Southampton, to kick off the summer window and get the rebuild underway.