**Despite relegation, West Ham midfielder Mateus Fernandes has had a great season in East London and will almost certainly make a big move this summer.**
West Ham named central defender Konstantinos Mavropanos as Hammer Of The Year, but to many, including myself, the clear winner was Mateus Fernandes.
Dinos had an excellent end to the season and was crucial in giving us hope of survival up until the final matchday of the season. However, Fernandes was consistently good throughout pretty much the whole season.
The Portuguese midfielder was even impressive under Graham Potter, and that’s saying something; barely anybody impressed under the now Sweden boss.
It seems crazy to say because he was playing in a relegated side all season, but Mateus Fernandes has everything you want in a central midfielder in this era of football. He can do everything.
His mix of pure technique, balance, and mobility makes him excellent in almost any midfield role. He can play deep; his defensive contribution is so underrated. The way he uses his physicality, despite only standing at 5ft10 is incredible, also his tackling can be frighteningly good at times.
His passing can be improved, but at just 21, that will grow with maturity, and anyway, he was by far the best passing midfielder at the club this season.
Number eight is his best position, the position that lets him show he can do everything. He can mix everything he’s capable of doing in a deeper role with his best features – ball retention and dribbling. Fernandes can find his way out of anything in midfield; he’s got the better of a lot of quality midfielders this season.
He can also play as a number ten; he didn’t really do that for the Hammers this season, and for good reason. His all-round play and work rate would have been missed massively in the midfield; we were struggling enough as it is.
A lot of opposition fans will laugh at the rumoured £80m pricetag, especially now we’ve gone down to the Championship, but I really don’t think that’s too crazy. I can see us getting around £60-70 million for him, especially if the teams rumoured to be in for him make a move.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester United have all been linked. If a bidding war were to start, who knows, we might get close to that £80m asking price.