Hammers set to miss out on Fernandes as player eyes Italy move

West Ham are unlikely to see Edimilson Fernandes in Claret and Blue again, despite a successful loan spell. With Italy calling, the midfielder seems to have made his choice.

Whenever a player goes out on loan there are inherent risks. What value do you put on their transfer clause at the end of the loan? Do you offer one? Will the player want to return? Now it seems that West Ham could be about to lose out due to a clause in Edimilson Fernandes’ contract.

When he joined Fiorentina at the start of the season I wasn’t too worried. Here was a player that was struggling for game-time and nailing down a position, so going to a solid side in Serie A was going to be great. However that was until I found out about the 7m clause the Italian club had in the deal.

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Given that we bought him for 5m, unless he had gone backwards in development, he was always going to be sold for more than that given the fact the transfer market just gets more expensive every year. So 7m was a bit low on that. And the value itself lends nothing to our confidence of the player, and is a bit of a lose lose.

If Fiorentina liked the player they would obviously spend more than 7m on the midfielder, so if he turned out a good fit that value is exceptionally good. However if it got to the end of the loan and Fiorentina did not want to spend 7m on him, we’re left with a player that isn’t very good. 7m for a player in this transfer market is cheap, and given the hype that Bilic thought should surround him when signed it would be a real shame to see him go.

If we add all of the poor deal making to the fact that the Hammers have been struggling for box-to-box midfielders to take us to the next level and this could come back to bite the Hammers in the backside. Is Fernandes as good as Wilshere? No. But is he injured less? Definitely. Having the Swiss as a squad player could have helped Pellegrini and I’m not too confident we’ll be able to benefit.

Obviously the deal hasn’t been done yet, and there is a chance Fiorentina simply don’t want him. Which for us would be a good addition, even if it means we get to sell him to another club for more than 7m. His agent has said he wants to go to Italy, so I would imagine he woun’t be leaving the Mediterranean country over the summer months.