It's too early for Santo to start planning for next seasonplaceholder image
It's too early for Santo to start planning for next season | Getty Images
West Ham could struggle to hold on to one of their best players this summer.
Manchester United are said to have had ‘initial conversations’ about the possibility of signing a West Ham star this summer. The Iron are currently involved in a scrap for survival, now one point from safety and still in with a big chance of beating the drop.
The Hammers face bottom club Wolves next up, and that’s a must-win game if they want to jump out of the bottom three.
The Iron have been on a real resurgence over the last couple of months, and that has been thanks, in part, to some important players. Among them is Mateus Fernandes, who has played a central role in Nuno Espirito Santo’s midfield.
But when there are standout players for a relegation-battling team, it often comes to pass that said players end up departing in the summer. In the case of relegation, departures are certain, while even when the club survives, some players look to take a step up.
Fernandes certainly fits into that category, and according to journalist Ben Jacobs, Man Utd are circling.
“Yeah, I think there’s a possibility he (Fernandes) leaves West Ham, obviously, because if they go down, then definitely (he is) tough to keep,” Jacobs told The United Stand.
“And there is some appreciation, I’m told, by Jason Wilcox, and he falls into the same category as Joao Gomes, to my knowledge, where Man United have run some data, they’ve had a few cursory conversations, but it’s just really important to stress at this stage in particular, a few months out from the summer, if Jason Wilcox and Christopher Vivell were not speaking to a hundred players’ camps, they wouldn’t be doing their job.
“So, part of it is just about understanding direction of travel, merry-go-round movement, market opportunities if a team goes down. So there have been some internal conversations about players like Joao Gomes, Mateus Fernandes, but at this stage, I’m not aware that Manchester United have done much more than that.”
West Ham paid £38million for Fernandes plus add-ons worth up to £4million. The price on any departure is likely to depend heavily on whether the Iron survive, and if they do, the price is likely to be a big one.
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