By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Tottenham Hotspur are understood to have agreed personal terms with Mateus Fernandes as the North Londoners edge ahead of Manchester United in the race for the midfielder’s signature.
Much like the bigwigs at Old Trafford, Spurs have been in negotiations with Fernandes’ agent, Jorge Mendes, for the best part of three weeks, which up until now has been the easiest part of the deal.
As Claret & Hugh revealed two weeks ago, Charles Lewis, son of Tottenham owner Joe Lewis, had spoken to a well-known football agent asking who at West Ham was actually dealing with transfers following the departures of Karren Brady and David Sullivan.
Tottenham were initially frustrated in their attempts to agree a fee with West Ham and, by all accounts, there has not been a huge amount of back and forth.
West Ham Holding Firm
West Ham have made their position abundantly clear to buying clubs.
Mateus Fernandes will cost between £80-85 million.
With a cash injection from Daniel Kretinsky expected soon, the club are perfectly willing to hang on to the Portuguese midfielder unless that valuation is met.
Silence Speaks Volumes
Thus far, attempts to sign the 21-year-old for around £70 million have not been met with a rejection from West Ham.
They’ve been met with silence.
It would now seem that both Tottenham and Manchester United are beginning to accept that it will take the full amount to prise Fernandes away from the London Stadium.
There is no relegation discount.
After all, it’s worth remembering that West Ham paid Southampton close to £40 million for the midfielder last summer when he had far less Premier League experience than he has today.
Spurs Now Lead The Race
Manchester United continue to leak stories suggesting Fernandes is too expensive and that they are struggling to find the necessary funds.
Considering the size of the club, that is a little baffling but I suspect it is a futile negotiating tactic and they’ll eventually up their offer.
However, all of the delay from Old Trafford seems to have put Tottenham in pole position.
As for West Ham, it is clear the days of refusing to do business with Tottenham Hotspur are long gone.
That was far more of an issue between David Sullivan and Daniel Levy.
As things stand, if Spurs become the first club to bid £85 million, Mateus Fernandes will almost certainly be heading to North London.
I wish we would refuse to do business with Tottenham. Selling Kudus was one thing because I didn’t like the bloke and he was a hit and come blowing mercenary and also he wasn’t as good as he himself thought he was, but with Fernandes it’s different. I’d hate to see him go to Tottenham.
I don’t believe he’ll go to Spurs. But if he does i’d be very upset. Selling our best player to them after relegation would be another stab in the heart and a terrible start by Kretinsky. If he wants to get us onside this is the worse way to start.
Agree completely. Kudus going there was bad enough.
This whole debacle leaves me deeply ashamed at where our club has ended up.
Spoils go to the victor and all that but to see Fernandes playing for that lot for at least the next 10 years really hurts. We are now literally a league away from them and that makes me very sad.
How do we fall so far behind clubs I feel we should not even be concerned with?
Let’s not forget that Spurs have massively underachieved recently. They just scraped staying up. Of course they may benefit for not having any Europe next year and of course they did improve in the last half dozen games last season. But if there’s no improvement next year and if Spurs miss out on Europe players like Fernades will get itchy feet again. I do think as well that some of the fees being paid out in this transfer window are going to start causing problems for football as a whole. It wouldn’t surprise me if this season we see a peak in fees. There’s a lot of debt out there and outside the very top clubs there’s little sign of increased revenue.
Kretinsky will get the amount he wants. We don’t really know what that is but we do know he knows when he’s got the upper hand and how to use it. He hasn’t been using ‘The Force’ to get where he is.
I think it’s £80 million if the terms are favourable and if not £85 million if the terms suit us less.
He’ll go for less than we’re asking. They always do. To see another player heading to the spuds is yet another kick in the teeth. I won’t have any gnashers left at this rate
As a spurs fan, I want you to keep your best players so you can come straight back up, the premier league is less fun when West Ham aren’t in it.
Enjoy the two derbies with Millwall and get yourselves back where you belong xxx
Personally, this hurts more than relegation. Didn’t give a toss about Kudus, this lad though is not only special but a good character. Kudus, I know they were buying a flawed asset.
They got Kudus on the cheap (thanks Sullivan) if they want Fernandes £85m minimum (upwards).
So he’s obviously not driven by ambition if he’s heading to the Spuds.
Best of luck to guy, class player and in my humble opinion far more rounded a player at 21 than Rice at 21 so £85m is cheap.
The Spuds are getting a top top player who will one day play for one of the big clubs…