West Ham complete signing of midfielder Mateus Fernandes | OneFootball

West Ham have completed the signing of midfielder Mateus Fernandes from Southampton for a fee of more than £40m.

He becomes West Ham’s third biggest signing ever, behind Lucas Paqueta and Sebastian Haller.

Fernandes joined Southampton for around £15m last summer and was part of the team that was relegated from the Premier League last season.

But he was a bright spark in what was a dreadful season for the Saints, playing 44 times in all competitions and making nine goal contributions (three goals and six assists).

He has made an impressive start to this season too, playing four times for Southampton and making two goal contributions.

Fernandes started his career at Portuguese giants Sporting CP, and also had a loan spell at Estoril before making the move to Southampton.

He has also represented Portugal at U21 level.

Why do West Ham want him?

Boss Graham Potter has endured a miserable start to the new campaign, losing three on the spin – twice in the Premier League and once in the Carabao Cup.

They were thrashed 3-0 at newly promoted Sunderland on the opening day of the new Premier League campaign, before suffering an embarrassing 5-1 home defeat to London rivals Chelsea in their second outing.

Bookmakers that feature on Oddspedia.com now have West Ham among the favourites to be relegated this season and a quick turnaround is needed if they are to avoid that fate.

Midfield has been a particular issue and is one Potter is clearly keen to address. They have lacked athleticism and mobility in the middle of the park and have been too easily overrun.

Fernandes’ youthful energy will bring some much needed dynamism to Potter’s side, as well as some creativity too for a team which has lacked goals so far this campaign.

He does not appear to be the only midfielder set to arrive at the club before the transfer window shuts either. They have also reportedly agreed a deal for another bright young prospect in Monaco’s Soungoutou Magassa, 21, for a fee of about £17m.

With an aging squad and a lack of pace a big issue, Potter and the West Ham board are moving swiftly to try and address the issue and are clearly looking towards the future by signing young players with high potential.

They will hope they can help them now, of course, but they look set to embark on a strategy of signing players who are on the way up rather than on their way down.

And they will certainly hope Fernandes can play a key role in turning their dismal early season form around.