By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
As much as I would love it not to be the case, West Ham are really in no position to pick and choose where we sell Mateus Fernandes.
Despite club claims that they will look to retain key players, I’ve always believed the Portuguese midfielder, alongside Crysencio Summerville, would be impossible to keep at the London Stadium.
With Jorge Mendes as Fernandes’ agent, it was always going to be difficult to keep him happy.
And if we’re honest, he’s too good for the Championship and there is far too much interest from too many clubs.
The Best West Ham Could Hope For
The best thing West Ham could realistically have hoped for was a bidding war.
And that’s what we have, of sorts.
Okay, there have been no official bids lodged, but that’s as much to do with West Ham’s radio silence as anything else.
What we do have in their place is an awareness amongst clubs wishing to sign the 21-year-old that they have competition for his signature.
That can only help the Hammers when it comes to maximising the fee.
De Zerbi has set his sights on Fernandes
We Can’t Be Choosy
Unfortunately, with West Ham no longer being a Premier League club, we can’t afford to be picky and choosy regarding the destination of outbound players.
The fact of the matter is, we couldn’t do anything about Mohammed Kudus moving to North London last summer, and we won’t be able to do anything about Fernandes either.
He’s just destined to be one of those players who passes through for a season before moving on elsewhere.
He Was Going Anyway
Undoubtedly, seeing him sign for Spurs would be a bit of a stinger.
But if they really are prepared to pay the £85m fee and are willing to pay in fewer instalments than other clubs, then I’m afraid he’ll have to go.
And if that manages to kickstart West Ham’s transfer window, then it possibly won’t be the worst thing in the world after all.
Because the reality is, he was going anyway.
Nobody knows anything really. For 2 weeks the socials have been telling us he had his heart set on Man U, now he only wants Spurs. It’s all just speculation.
Exactly right despite all the “we hold all the cards” headlines we really hold very few. Once the club was relegated anyone that can get a move to a premiership or better European club will do.
It’s a fantasy to pretend otherwise. We couldn’t stop him going to Spurs if they are the best offer he gets.
Everyone who can go will go, Bowen may have too much of a emotional bond but only him may stay amongst the good players. Don’t people remember the last time we were relegated? Lost everyone except Defoe who went later and Carrick who was injured. Just the likes of Dailly stayed.
We have a long haul on our hands with second rate Premiership players, academy players and maybe lower league hopefuls.
Again shows the fine margins as Spurs could of so easily been us, if only Villa and Everton had turned up and we didn’t flunk the Newcastle game.
My humble opinion is that De Zerbi was found out in his second season at Brighton so it could go either way with him at Spurs
I fully agree with Gonzo – if Spurs are the ones prepared to pay the asking price he will go there
Fernandes is a talented player who turned in good performances last year – but after one season he will never be a West Ham legend – unlike Declan Rice (dons hard hat)
Let him leave and we can get in a replacement
COYI
The issue is does he really want to go to spurs ,
You’d be spewing wouldn’t ya?
Your agent gets you a move from a recently relegated club to a club that was flirting with relegation (and eventually gets relegated). So your agent decides to get you a move from your newly, recently relegated club to one that was flirting with relegation.
Time for a new agent?