Like most West Ham fans, I was absolutely delighted to hear that the club are close to completing the signing of Mateus Fernandes from Southampton.
Let’s be honest — the Hammers have endured an abysmal start to the transfer window. More importantly, the players signed so far haven’t really improved the first team. Fernandes, however, looks different. He’s the first player who you feel walks straight into the XI and commands a starting role.
Of course, there are still concerns. Many of us fear that James Ward-Prowse will continue to be selected by Graham Potter regardless, but realistically the manager will need to switch things up if he wants to keep his job.
West Ham have been forced to insert an unwelcome clause into the Fernandes deal
Sting in the tale for West Ham
The reported £40 million price tag, including add-ons, is hefty but represents a statement of intent. The only downside is a sting in the tail: it’s understood that Southampton have included a 15% sell-on clause for any profits West Ham make on the midfielder.
At present, there are no reports of a buyout clause, though I’d be surprised if there wasn’t some kind of relegation stipulation written into the deal.
For now, it’s excellent news — Fernandes improves the first team instantly. But the hard truth is that this must only be the beginning. With the transfer window closing in fast, West Ham still have much more work to do.
Does potter not find it ironic that we play forest Sunday a team in Europe who couldn’t even find a place for James walking prowse in their squad before giving him back. Yet the guy is undroppable for the premier leagues worst team. I mean can this prat potter not see the irony? Do one potter and take that useless midfield with you
O M G WTF??? Did we win the lottery or what guys ??? 57 mill here,37 mill there 25 mill over there ??? we’ve had a longer window than normal just about 4 months now, and we leave it up till less than the last week 2 get so far another 3 signings over the line, and it’s not gonna stop there i don’t think.
Don’t get me wrong i’m not moaning cause it looks like we’re signing some superb ”YOUNG” players. so it looks like them up-stairs have finally realized we’re in deep crap. but lets hope these 3 and who ever follows them make a lotta diference and get back 2 winning some games C O Y I’s
Cheers Paul.
The chances will sell him for a profit are absolutely zero. So no problem with the sell
On clause being inserted.
Honestly who cares if we lose 15 percent of future profit.
Potter finally gets a player he wanted rather than one of Sullys bargain basement gifts.
Westham rarely make a profit on players and so the 15 percent sell clause likely won’t come into play . There’s somethings wrong with Potter , not only are his tactics too slow on the pitch his recruitment is as well . Sullivan is panicked with good reason and as such I’m sure that he’;s stacking the squad with a view towards what the next coach will need after Potter is sacked . Let’s hope that this time Sullivan doesn’t procrastinate and makes the change fast . The list of replacements is however awful .
Good news Gonzo Let’s hope Sullivan dont spoil it all by selling Paqueta at the last moment Just got no trust at the moment
15% is fair enough if it gets the price down.
We need more than him though and agree him and JWP are not the combo to stop leaking goals.
JWP should only be seen on the bench he is statistically our worst midfielder without the ball.
Make him non playing club captain or team cheerleader
If you look our transfers in the GS era, we generally buy big, sell at a loss, unless home grown. This being the situation, it’s Southampton being ripped off! 👍👍😂🤣⚒️⚒️
I think this will be a great signing and genuinely excited if we pull this off, as for any sell on clause we can let the billionaires worry about that. Typical West Ham fashion we’re leaving it to the 11th hour or as someone once said “don’t go to bed just yet.” Fingers crossed we get a striker/forward, the only part of the jigsaw that doesn’t look right is Potter, but we will have to wait and see. I suppose we still have to back him till they sack him? COYIs⚒️⚒️⚒️⚒️
Since it’s so rare that we sell on a player for an actual net profit, a 15% profit clause is most probably moot anyway!
Hes the sort of player we need and i’d suspect this is the norm for any negotiation for a young prospect. There was probably an opportunity to lay more more down now but Sullivan probably rejected it. Would be interested in whether this would be 15% on the increased value or the overall sell on fee agreed? Either way, just it goes towards getting us out of the immediate short term issue in midfield we have, so perhaps worth not being too critical.
Gonzo
The 15% is on any profit so even if we sold for 70 mio this would only be 4.5 mio…i think this is better to have as a future clause rather than any increased amount (albeit lower) to be taken now given our cash flow situation.
Dear Gonzo,
Just to say I often find what you say is simply constructive criticism and certainly not moaning, you are together with a few others, actually worth listening to, thanks awfully.
60 years supporting this team btw.🙏🏻🤪. Think I have seen our better days.
Thanks mate, awfully kind of you to say so. As I said in the piece, a sell on percentage is probably the lesser evil and better than a buyout clause. But, this player walks straight into out first team and I’m happy about that.
Have a good day mate
Southampton took full advantage of our desperation
and Sullivan’s last minute shopping spree.
Pleased we have one of the two required in the middle of the park.
Now we need a commanding CB and a forward (not an injury prone 30 something) both with a resale value!
Potter like Amorim needs to ditch the wingback system and play Bowen on the RW. Only Conte made this system work but he had peak Kante as his no.6.
Matt
Did they really take that much advantage ? We tried twice up to 32m reportedly they declined . They didn’t get the 50 mio they tried for and the price was similar to Diblings going to Everton.
Either way it’s about time we had sone good news, let’s hope he delivers
The sell on, if it came, would reflect the 15%. – surely they are not that stupid.
….and it”s 15% of the profit, not the sale fee. WHUFC has only ever sold two players, Rice and Kudus, for more than £40M.
So if Fernandes turns out to be a Rice (@£100M), then that would mean £51M profit for WH and £9M for Southampton- not bad IMO. If he’s worth that I’d probably complain more about the player being sold than Southampton getting £9M
It is possible to play Ward Prowse, Soucek and even Rodriguez just not all three as a unit or even any two together as they are all too slow.
Any one of them along with two more energetic midfielders is likely to work. Soucek adds to the defence and is good in the opposition box too he does have his good points. Ward Prowse is useful for set pieces. They are not totally useless just too low energy to be used together as a midfield as when they are they get overrun.
I can’t remember a good set piece from him since we signed him.
Way too expensive, makes the Kudos deal look cheap, nice for him though. BTW Making a comment isn’t necessarily moaning is it ? Please feel free to comment on my comment, I won’t see it as a moan. 🙏🏻🤯
DM,
No moan from me …I think Kudus price was in line with market using Cunha as a benchmark….whats not been disclosed (unless I missed it) are the add on details in the Kudus deal.
Hence difficult to compare but assuming equality so 42 mio vs 55 I.e a 30% discount if you take Kudus year 1 performance your right we overpaid although if you base on his year 2 then to me that’s more questionable
Is there still a protest being organised at the London Stadium in the near future? I believe the next home game is against Europa League Winners, Spurs on Saturday 13 September. Could be an interesting match, what with Mo Judus Kudus in hot form for the enemy and maybe us playing some exciting new signings. The only real downside I can think of is Potter still playing his favourite sideways and back specialist, James Ward-Prowse!
Definitely a protest but I’d wait for confirmation on the dates because the Met will need to confirm
Don’t see why it’s an issue, the price is ok for a young player with a years experience in the prem. If he smashes it and we want to sell him then we lose a bit of the profit not a big issue as we would hope that would have been alongside an upturn to the team performances.
The only issue for me is s why didn’t it happen earlier.
It doesn’t sour the deal for me, I couldn’t care less about a sell-on clause. He improves our midfield, which is the only real concern.
Very true Alan but my headline was better 😉⚒
Potter better damn well play him or he’ll be hounded out of the LS very quickly. JWP should be nowhere near starting 11.
Only took you about half to find something to moan about didn’t it?
Ironically you’re moaning Alex.
I’m very happy with this transfer actually as I mentioned twice today. Probably the old grumpy blinkers made you miss that bit.
Anyway, perhaps go and move to a part of the internet you enjoy.
Gonzo wasn’t moaning he was over the moon and absolutely right to report about the 15% that’s what good reporting is. What would you call 15% of profits – a bonus?
Good response gonzo. In these dark times for our club you and geo remain about the only thing left that is reminiscent of my beloved West Ham. Top man
What kind of ridiculous comment is that?? Totally pointless and a waste of time and server space. Look in the mirror, bud…