Generally considered to be West Ham’s first and most important piece of business when the summer window opens, the Mateus Fernandes sale is likely to dominate discussion whilst other high value Hammers are away at the World Cup.
Manchester United, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris St Germain have all been credited with interest in the Premier League’s “wonderkid’ of the season: Quite how this will translate into serious bids to buy the youngster will become clear very soon.
However if a report out of Spain is to be believed it seems the Irons’ chances of extracting the full £85 million for their highest value player have taken something of a dent. According to El Debate (translated by teamtalk.com) this morning, it seems Mourinho’s Madrid have their own price ceiling for the youngster:
“The Portuguese manager is also requesting the signing of young Mateus Fernandes…The problem is that his price tag is currently a major obstacle.
‘West Ham are asking for €93 million (£80m,), and Real Madrid will never reach that figure.”
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Which would not be surprising with Premeir League clubs usually by far the richest in Europe.
What will be fascinating is to see how the negotiations develop between West Ham and interested suitors without the customary ‘leakage’ of information offering an almost constant media commentary as the negotiations develop – for which the ‘old’ regime under Sullivan was notorious.
That in itself is likely to benefit West Ham’s financial position as negotiations proceed in a more mature manner. Uncharted territory for the club and for likely bidders too, when the window opens next week, accepting, reluctantly, that Fernandes has to be sold.