West Ham are weighing up options surrounding the pursuit of Mateus Fernandes, with ExWHUEmployee providing an update.

As has been reported previously, the club tabled a £30m offer for the midfielder earlier this week, however that was rejected, with the Saints valuing the player at around the £60m mark.

The club are now looking at alternative options, with Ex advising that this could see a similar situation as to how our pursuit of Mads Hermansen unfolded. It’s also understood that both Fernandes and his agent are keen on the move to east London, which could be a factor in the coming weeks.

“We have spent the last day talking to people about the Fernandes situation,” stated Ex on The West Ham Way Patreon. “At the moment the club had been weighing up whether to make a move again for the player but the evaluations are so far a part the club have almost decided it is pointless with Southampton valuing the player at almost £60m.

“We have decided that we will not bid again for the time being and explore other targets. This could be another similar situation to Mads Hermansen where by we wait and see if the club will lower their price but there is obviously going to have to be significant movement on both sides for a deal to be completed.

“I don’t think this is over just yet because the player and agent are very keen on the move and as we know in modern football they hold the power.”

Ex also provided an update on other midfield targets, with Mukau of Lille appearing to be high on the list now, as well as our long standing interest in Harvey Elliot of Liverpool.

“The next target could be Ngal’ayel Mukau of Lille,” said Ex. “We reported on Monday that we do have interest in the player and following an impressive display against West Ham he appears to have moved up the target list. It is hoped that his valuation will be a lot more within our budget.

“Another top target of the window Harvey Elliot has yet to secure a move. Despite talk of multiple clubs being interested in the player, the latest being Crystal Palace he still has not moved. If this drags out and he is still without a club a move could be more financially do able towards the end of the window.

“We have also mentioned numerous times our interest in another Leicester City player in the form of Bilal El Khannouss. He is a teammate of Nayef Aguerd for Morocco and with the defender looking like he will stay at the club this could be a lure to get the player to join Hermansen in moving this way this summer.”

Ex has also advised on other midfield targets who he has exclusivelt revealed to be players of interest for our recruitment team.

“Another potential target is Ukrainian midfielder Heorhiy Sudakov of Shakhtar Donetsk,” added Ex. “This player has been on Kyle Macauley’s radar for quite some time with other clubs also showing interest. The player has said he doesn’t want to leave the club and this alongside high transfer fee demands means a move would be difficult.

“Finally a new name to give you this window but one where there is definite interest is Quinten Timber of Feyenoord. He is the twin brother of Arsenal’s defender Jurriën. He has played 5 times for the Netherlands. The player has a lot of interest but did suffer a serious knee injury this year which has put some clubs off although he has returned for the Dutch giants preseason.”