{"id":450581,"date":"2025-09-25T14:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T14:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/450581\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T14:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T14:38:11","slug":"15m-spain-star-confirms-west-ham-interest-and-why-august-transfer-didnt-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/450581\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a315m Spain star confirms West Ham ‘interest’ and why August transfer didn’t happen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monday night\u2019s Premier League trip to Everton could potentially see Soungoutou Magassa partner Mateus Fernandes at the heart of the West Ham United midfield for the very first time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, that new-look partnership is likely to come too late to save Graham Potter\u2019s<\/a> skin \u2013 further defeats against Everton and Arsenal will surely see a change in manager over the October international break \u2013 but at least the days of a James Ward-Prowse, Guido Rodriguez midfield are surely now a thing of the past.<\/p>\n

Of course, nothing can ever be discounted when it comes to Potter\u2019s team selection. Ward-Prowse has barely made a meaningful contribution in any of his six appearances so far in 2024\/25, but the much-maligned England international has still played 506 of a possible 540 minutes across all competitions.<\/p>\n

Potter continues to omit pre-season star Freddie Potts<\/a>, too, despite Tomas Soucek\u2019s suspension and Rodriguez\u2019s clear lack of Premier League pedigree.<\/p>\n

At least, whoever takes his job will inherit the raw potential of Fernandes and Magassa. A pairing with the energy, physicality and aggression so clearly missing from the rest of Potter\u2019s options.<\/p>\n

Fernandes and Magassa joined on the same August afternoon, meaning West Ham dropped their interest in Aleix Garcia of Bayer Leverkusen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, speaking to Sport<\/a>, the Spain international insists that he was a lot less tempted by a London Stadium switch than either Fernandes or Magassa proved to be.<\/p>\n

\"AleixPhoto by Fran Santiago\/Getty ImagesBayer Leverkusen\u2019s Aleix Garcia confirms West Ham United \u2018interest\u2019<\/p>\n

Hammers News <\/strong>were informed that Aleix Garcia was added to Graham Potter\u2019s shortlist<\/a> with a fortnight to go in the summer window.<\/p>\n

A former Manchester City youngster, Garcia was labelled an \u2018outstanding\u2019 talent by Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium. But it was back home in Spain where he really blossomed into a top European playmaker.<\/p>\n

Garcia inspired Girona to Champions League qualification before making a \u00a315 million move to then-Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n

The late-blooming 28-year-old now explains that, having been bitten by the UCL bug last season, Garcia had little interest trading in clashes with PSG and former employers Man City for a potential relegation battle at West Ham.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was interest and some conversations [with the Hammers],\u201d Garcia admits. \u201cBut if it didn\u2019t happen, it\u2019s because it wasn\u2019t meant to be. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the Champions League is key. I\u2019ve worked hard, and competing for it was the most important thing. [West Ham] was an interesting option, but I\u2019m comfortable where I am. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, for now, nothing. I\u2019m very happy here.\u201d<\/p>\n

While West Ham are looking for only a second win of the new season away at Everton, Leverkusen are aiming to bounce back after a poor start of their own. Former Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand is now in charge, following the extremely short-lived Erik ten Hag era.<\/p>\n

\u201c[My aim is] to be at the top, competing for everything, and see if we can win the league,\u201d Garcia adds. \u201cIt\u2019s complicated because Bayern are very strong, but this is football and anything can happen. We have a great team. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Cup, we know it\u2019s difficult, although there are always surprises. It\u2019s the same in the Champions League. We\u2019re a young team, with joy and a lot of football, and the plan is to go as far as possible in all competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to French publication Le10 Sport<\/a>, West Ham made a bid for Rennes\u2019 Djaoui Cisse<\/a> before signing both Fernandes and Magassa. They reportedly offered \u00a319 million, rising to nearly \u00a323 million with add-ons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monday night\u2019s Premier League trip to Everton could potentially see Soungoutou Magassa partner Mateus Fernandes at the heart…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[151564,3018,3019,2000,299,55980,101,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-450581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-aleix-garcia","9":"tag-bayer-leverkusen","10":"tag-bundesliga","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-mateus-fernandes","14":"tag-premier-league","15":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115265451095221678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450581","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=450581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}