West Ham can’t stop with just intent regarding Gedson Fernandes
By Adam Smith
The transfer window is now open and with it, a thunderous link to solve West Ham’s longterm issues in the midfield, it could be a more important transfer than it initially seems.
Across the board, West Ham have been linked with Manchester United target from Benfica, 19-year-old midfield ace Gedson Fernandes. The link comes just two days into the January transfer window and appears to be a move that West Ham have been orchestrating behind the scenes for quite some time.
It has been previously reported that West Ham set up a series of scouts and representatives in Portugal when Manuel Pellegrini joined the club in 2018. The club had the Iberian connections prior and signed Xande Silva and Mesaque Dju prior to the Chilean manager decided on transfers, but centre-back Goncalo Cardoso was his pick.
All three of these players are Portuguese youth players and are believed to have strong relationships with Gedson Fernandes as they’ve played together for club and country at the youth level for years. That, plus the connection to London for Fernandes where it is reported his mother lives, could push the Hammers in poll position.
The Hammers are looking for an 18-month loan, which plays into their hands. Understandably, Benfica are reluctant to sell highly-rated youth after losing out on the massive fee Luka Jovic returned for Frankfurt, who bought him out for just €7m before flipping him to Real Madrid for €60 million, making a massive profit on him and forcing Benfica to lose out.
To prevent this, Benfica have a £102m release clause which effectively prices West Ham out of a permanent deal for the player. SkySports has revealed that Benfica believe they won’t get close to that for Fernandes as he’s fallen out with coach Bruno Lage, which could set up a loan-to-buy for the Hammers, again similar to Juka Jovic’s deal at Frankfurt, just with a higher buy out at the end.
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A signing like Gedson Fernandes is exactly what West Ham need to be looking for to take the next step forward and build on some impressive youth in the system. No one is more important than Declan Rice for the Hammers right now, and getting him a potentially world-class player to sit beside in the midfield can do nothing but ease his workload and show that the club has the intent to be a success with him, not without.