When stories appear suggesting the Tomas Soucek and Edson Alvarez are on the way out of the door at London Stadium this summer, the hope is that there will be an intimate benefit to the club for saying goodbye to seasoned and in Soucek’s case anyway – popular servants of the club. Along with Soler and Guido Rodriguez’ departure, the Hammers will have serious holes to fill both in terms of skills but experience too.
The upside of this ‘scorched earth’ policy will be weighed during the summer transfer window and seeing who takes the pitch come August. The signs are encouraging with The Hammers being linked with some high profile midfielders (Mario Stroeykens of Anderlect in the last couple of days, for example) along with one or two less well known but nonetheless high calibre young talented players. One who fits into that category would certainly be 20 year-old Mateus Fernandes, Southampton’s newly relegated midfield talent.
Not the finished article by any means – hence an attainable £25 million price tag – but very highly thought-of at Southampton as reported in [_londonworld.com._](https://www.londonworld.com/sport/football/west-ham/west-ham-transfer-news-fernandes-ps25m-leeds-aston-villa-southampton-5145323) I’m always conflicted at the prospect of pulling players away from relegated clubs – after all they did fail, didn’t they – but some of the best up and coming talent can be poached this way.
_“The 20-year-old has made 35 appearances for the Saints this season, scoring two goals and provided three assists in a miserable campaign for the club… ”_ as the report sets out. Former Saints defender Jo Tessem is convinced:
_“Mateus Fernandes is on people’s radar because every week he plays his heart out, he is by far the best player on the football pitch from a Saints perspective_.”
Damning with faint praise, I believe that is called. However, Fernandez was voted fans’ player of the Season at St Mary’s.
As an up and coming prospect to grow into a Premier League midfield, Fernandez has a lot to offer. Filling the ‘experience’ hole left by the departure of more seasoned pro’s will be another matter for Potter to deal with.