{"id":341840,"date":"2025-08-13T18:38:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T18:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/341840\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T18:38:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T18:38:15","slug":"what-mateus-fernandes-did-at-the-london-stadium-in-april-shows-why-west-ham-want-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/341840\/","title":{"rendered":"What Mateus Fernandes did at the London Stadium in April shows why West Ham want him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whether he knew it at the time is anybody\u2019s guess, but Graham Potter was given an early sneak peek at West Ham United\u2019s new midfield priority when facing Mateus Fernandes and Southampton back in April.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And while his partner at the heart of the Saints engine room has already secured a move \u2013 Burnley signed Lesley Ugochukwu in a \u00a323 million deal earlier this month \u2013 it surely won\u2019t be long before Mateus Fernandes is back in the big-time himself.<\/p>\n

Because, to quote former Southampton captain Jo Tessem, Mateus Fernandes is an \u2018ultimate Premier League midfielder\u2019<\/a> in the making.<\/p>\n

As Jacob Ramsey closes in on Newcastle<\/a>, West Ham United<\/a> are going all in on the Portugal Under-21 international as deadline day looms ominously on the horizon. <\/p>\n

Southampton rejected the Hammers\u2019 opening \u00a330 million bid<\/a> on Tuesday, holding out for closer to \u00a350 million. Talks are ongoing between the two clubs though, and confidence is high at the London Stadium.<\/p>\n

Especially because, according to an update provided by Claret and Hugh<\/a> after Fernandes brilliantly fired Southampton past Crawley Town<\/a> in the Carabao Cup, the former Sporting Lisbon starlet has told his St Mary\u2019s bosses that his desire is to pursue a fresh challenge elsewhere.<\/p>\n

But, back to that London Stadium stalemate four months ago. <\/p>\n

\"MateusPhoto by Robin Jones\/Getty ImagesMateus Fernandes ran the show as Southampton drew with West Ham United <\/p>\n

Another underwhelming, one-paced performance from a West Ham side limping towards a 14th place finish. Three points wastefully tossed away by a stoppage time equaliser from the aforementioned Ugochukwu.<\/p>\n

If there was one man who injected some zip into a rather flat encounter between the underachieving Hammers and the doomed Saints though, it was Mateus Fernandes.<\/p>\n

Only Lucas Paqueta and Niclas Fullkrug produced more than his three key passes on that springtime afternoon. With two successful tackles as well, Fernandes also won the ball back more often than West Ham\u2019s midfield pairing of Carlos Soler and James Ward-Prowse between them.<\/p>\n

Classy and purposeful on the ball yet a tenacious presence without it too, there is a reason former Saints boss Russell Martin spoke glowingly about Fernandes\u2019 \u2018intensity, desire, and fight to win\u2019 as well as his \u2018talent, guile, and creativity\u2019.<\/p>\n

Southampton\u2019s number 18 was likened to Manchester City\u2019s \u00a353 million powerhouse Matheus Nunes by his former coach at Estoril. And there were shades of the one-time Wolves dynamo in the way Fernandes created the visitors\u2019 first opening in the capital.<\/p>\n

Picking up the ball wide on the right, Fernandes drove infield, zipped past Soler and laid the ball off for Kamaldeen Sulemana to line up a shot which deflected wide of Alphonse Areola\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

Fernandes then came within a whisker of a delightful assist. Receiving possession more centrally this time, the 21-year-old drew Emerson Palmieri out of possession and threaded an inch-perfect pass into an onrushing Kyle Walker-Peters<\/a>. The future West Ham right-back would see his effort dribble agonisingly wide of the far post.<\/p>\n

In what could be an exciting sign of things to come, Fernandes and Walker-Peters then combined impressively again shortly after Jarrod Bowen had given the home side the lead with a sublime trademark effort. <\/p>\n

A quickfire one-two, and then another one, before Fernandes\u2019 flighted cross was snatched out of Paul Onuachu\u2019s clutches by some desperate back-post defending.<\/p>\n

Saints hero Jo Tessem says Fernandes is \u2018an ultimate Premier League midfielder\u2019 <\/p>\n

As Southampton pursued a last-gasp leveller, it was inevitably Fernandes who dropped deep and took matters into his own hands. <\/p>\n

Lighting the fuse for the move which eventually saw Ugochukwu lash home and earn the Saints one of only 12 points they managed across the entire campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cMateus Fernandes is on people\u2019s radar because every week he plays his heart out. He is by far the best player on the football pitch from a Saints perspective,\u201d Tessem told BBC Radio Solent Southampton<\/a>; the \u00a315 million acquisition arguably the only player apart from Tyler Dibling who emerged from a wreck of a season with his reputation enhanced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said the same about Romeo Lavia [who joined Chelsea for \u00a358 million]. I didn\u2019t think he would stay for a season in the Championship and he didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

\u201c[Fernandes] is on a similar level, albeit a different type of player. He is becoming an ultimate Premier League midfielder and clubs are not going to let that go.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe plays like a Premier League player. He passes like a Premier League player. He is quick like a Premier League player. He conducts himself so well in midfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

The West Ham faithful need only cast their mind back to April \u2013 even if this was a game they would rather forget \u2013 for an intriguing snapshot into what Mateus Fernandes could bring with him on his return to the London Stadium.<\/p>\n

This time, if Graham Potter gets his way, while wearing a claret and blue jersey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether he knew it at the time is anybody\u2019s guess, but Graham Potter was given an early sneak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,9030,393,4884,257,55980,101,2359,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-341840","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-championship","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-mateus-fernandes","14":"tag-premier-league","15":"tag-southampton","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115022915592319640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}