West Ham United wait all summer for one midfielder and two arrive at once, with Soungoutou Magassa and Mateus Fernandes on their way to the Premier League from Monaco and Southampton respectively.
West Ham fought off a late Eintracht Frankfurt hijack to land France Under-21 international Magassa for an initial fee of £14 million, rising to £17 million with add-ons.
If Magassa combines Moises Caicedo’s defensive output with Adam Wharton’s line-breaking talents, as the stats suggest, Graham Potter could be on the verge of landing the athletic, deep-lying number six he so craves.
And on paper, a pairing of Magassa and Mateus Fernandes should go a long way to solving the issues exposed so brutally by successive defeats against Sunderland, Chelsea and Wolves.
Per BBC Sport, Southampton ace Fernandes is heading to London after West Ham United finally agreed a fee at the third time of asking. Hammers News reported last week, via chief football correspondent Graeme Bailey, that a deal was likely to be done at £40 million. That, it appears, is the sum which will now change hands between the two clubs.
One suspects Kiko Felix, a former teammate of Fernandes’ in the Sporting Lisbon academy, will not be all that surprised to see the Portugal Under-21 international land himself a mega-money move back to the Premier League.
Mateus Fernandes during Southampton Pre-Season Friendly
Photo by Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images
Former Sporting teammate says West Ham United-bound Mateus Fernandes is better than Chelsea’s new man
Kiko played alongside the likes of Renato Veiga, Dario Essugo and Youssouf Chermiti in one of European football’s most fertile academies.
Veiga has since represented Chelsea and Juventus before Villarreal signed the Portugal defender for £26 million earlier this month. Essugo also ended up at Stamford Bridge in an £18 million deal, while Chermiti should have a bright future at Everton once he puts those injury issues behind him.
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Kiko, though, labels Fernandes the stand-out Sporting starlet of his generation, following in the footsteps of Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and more.
“Mateus Fernandes was the best player I’ve ever played with,” Kiko told O Jogo before West Ham finally got the green light.
“[But] Renato Veiga also really surprised me, as did Dario Essugo.”
The West Ham fans who spent the final few minutes at Molineux praying they would no longer suffer through James Ward-Prowse and Guido Rodriguez ambling around the pitch at half-speed, then, may be about to see their wish come true.
Chelsea midfielder Dario Essugo celebrates after beating Bayer Leverkusen in pre-season
Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images
Southampton star Fernandes has been likened to Manchester City’s Matheus Nunes
Both Magassa and Fernandes are only 21, and should a bring mix of tenacity and technique so clearly missing during a dismal start to the new campaign.
A coach who worked with Mateus Fernandes during a loan spell at Estoril in 2023/24, Vasco Seabra draws comparisons with Manchester City’s Matheus Nunes. The two Sporting graduates sharing a deep tactical understanding and an ability to turn defence into attack with a charging run through the thirds.
“Talking about Mateus is very easy for me because he is a really good guy, very humble and with immense talent,” Seabra told BBC Solent Sport just days before Southampton struck a bargain £15 million deal with Sporting back in 2024.
“So it is easy to talk about a player with so many qualities that adapt so well to the Premier League. He is a very strong and aggressive player with a great ability to cover a lot of ground. He can run many kilometres per game, works hard for the team and can play further back, in the initial build-up phase.
“With us, he always helped in the build-up from the back, making the transition of the ball to the end zone. But he can also play further forward, close to the goal, because he can make good attacking moves from the back.
“Here in Portugal, he is often compared to Matheus Nunes. I believe that Mateus Fernandes has similar characteristics [but] he is a player who can play in more positions than Matheus Nunes.
“He can play in the initial phase, further back, but at the same time, if necessary, he can also play between the lines, as a false winger.”