West Ham should consider recalling Edmilison Fernandes before spending

West Ham are clearly searching for a midfielder partner for Declan Rice, leaving the club vulnerable to inflated prices in the January transfer window. Before opening their wallets and accessing their limited transfer funds, the Hammers should consider recalling Edimilson Fernandes to fill their midfield.

No one seemed to know where Swiss international and then youngster Edimilson Fernandes was supposed to play, least of all his manager Slaven Bilic. Attacking mid? Wide midfielder? Wingback? Central midfielder? The answer to all of these positional questions was simply, “yes.”

With a manager determined to find his players best positions and play them there consistently (Antonio aside), Manuel Pellegrini has brought balance to the West Ham team by identifying and using these natural positions.

Away on loan at Fiorentina of Italy’s Serie A, Fernandes has been played in the center of midfield in a solid amount of games for the mid-table team. He hasn’t jumped out on the scoresheet or lit the world on fire with goal-after-goal performances but Fernandes has settled into his natural position and is showing (from afar) what he can do for West Ham.

So, is it worth it to recall Fernandes in January to save a little cash on inflated transfer prices? The stats suggest Fernandes may be worth it.

WhoScored.com player ratings and stats show how effective a player has been in their positions based off of their statistical performances. Here are Fernandes’ stats compared to Declan Rice’s.

Fernandes: league matches – 17(5 subs), 1.1 key passes/game, 27.4 passes/game, 82% passing success rate, 1.5 tackles/game, 0.8 interceptions/game, 1.4 clearances/game, 0.2 blocks/game, player rating of 6.53

Rice: leagues matches – 18, 0.4 key passes/game, 42.7 passes/game, 85.7% passing success rate, 2.4 tackles/game, 1.4 interceptions/game, 1.9 clearances/game, 0.4 blocks/game player rating of 6.90

Declan Rice, a special player, has a certain edge on Fernandes statistically speaking, but not by much. Rice passes more often which is a by-product of Pellegrini’s style of football, and he does edge out Fernandes only slightly in the defensive stats as well.

There isn’t much between these two players statistically speaking and with West Ham needing players who can fill out their midfield, there is very little downside to investing time in a player they own to see if he can grasp and succeed under Pellegrini.

The only real downside would be taking Fernandes out of a system he is succeeding in which could hurt his development. To that, I would say if he can’t grasp the system Pellegrini uses then West Ham will know they can move on from their loaned out prospect.

At 22-years-old Fernandes is a much more attractive option than a 10m plus transfer of Besiktas’ Gary Medel. Save that money for a team and future-friendly solution to a squad issue rather than using it as an expensive stop-gap remedy for midfield depth.