While Mateus Fernandes saga rumbles on, West Ham United are not the only club set to benefit enormously – and financially – from the transfer market magic of Jorge Mendes.
As the battle between Tottenham and Manchester United threatens to creep into July, this has been a saga with Mendes’ fingerprints all over it.
That West Ham United are even in a position where Mateus Fernandes could genuinely earn them an £85 million windfall owes much to Mendes’ expert market manipulation. A transfer story played out very much in public, with briefs from all sides, and a price-tag lifted to staggering heights by a super-agent with three decades in the business.
How much do YOU think Fernandes will be sold for in the end?
Forbes reported back in 2020 that Mendes had earned over 100 million dollars while brokering some of the biggest transfers in football history; see Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodriguez to Real Madrid, Joao Felix to Atletico, Darwin Nunez to Liverpool, Angel di Maria to Man United.
This – two deep-pocketed Premier League clubs chasing a brilliant young midfielder – is the sort of occasion Mendes was born for. He is Fred Astaire, the transfer market is his ballroom.
“Manchester United understand that the player [Mateus Fernandes] wants to join the club,” the extremely well-connected Andy Mitten said late this week on the Talk of the Devils podcast.
“West Ham want the highest fee, as much money as possible, and an auction situation. Maybe his agent does as well, and the agent is influencing the player. Jorge Mendes is the agent.
“I’m told [Fernandes] would play for Spurs, but prefers Manchester United. It boils down to how much United want to pay for the player. They don’t want to get into an auction situation.”
Jorge Mendes at the heart of West Ham United’s Mateus Fernandes saga
This Friday, the unrelenting Mendes was at it again.
As we await a breakthrough in the Fernandes case, another Mendes client – Goncalo Ramos – moved to within touching distance of leaving Paris Saint-Germain for AC Milan.
The Portugal international will become Milan’s biggest-ever signing at a reported £60 million.
Do not underestimate Mendes’ ability to extract maximum value, securing a transfer fee that leaves eyes watering and bank balances empty.
Goncalo Ramos has averaged only 14 Ligue 1 starts a season for PSG and has spent much of the 2026 World Cup watching a 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo from the bench. Yet, the seven-time European champions have been convinced to part with the most substantial fee in their history.
“Jorge Mendes could probably get ME a move to a top-five European league club right now!” one X user laughs, watching on in awe as the so-called ‘super-agent’ prepares to grow his portfolio, not to mention his personal fortune.
Jorge Mendes has got Manchester United to pay up in the past
Evan Planchon, writing for the EU’s Business School website, uses the transfer of Anthony Martial from Monaco to Manchester United in 2015 as the perfect example of Mendes’ ability to coax barely-believable fees for his clients.
Martial, lest we forget, was a 19-year-old with only 29 Ligue 1 starts under his belt when he became the most expensive teenager in the game. Hardly a pedigree stallion in Mendes’ Gestifute stable.
Planchon explains how Martial, initially valued at 34 million dollars, eventually changed hands for a staggering final package of 90 million.
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“A few days before the contract was signed, Mendes was asked by Monaco executives to act as an adviser to ensure the success of the lucrative transfer. Mendes grabbed the opportunity and increased the price of 19-year-old Martial from 34 million dollars to 55.5 million dollars.
“The contract then reached the value of 90 million dollars with incentives and endorsements, breaking transfer records for a teenage player.”
It is no secret that Mateus Fernandes dreams of playing at Old Trafford alongside his idol and namesake Bruno, following in Martial’s footsteps.
Who knows? Perhaps Mendes and West Ham are merely using Tottenham’s desperation, their willingness to stump up the full £85 million, as a means of smoking Man United out.
By letting the Red Devils believe that Fernandes would accept a move to Spurs, will this be the extra push United need to reach that magic number?
As AC Milan prepare to break records for a £60 million striker who has never been anything more than an extra in PSG’s star-studded cast of A-listers, you would not bet against Jorge Mendes following up one transfer market masterclass by boosting West Ham’s coffers to the tune of around £90 million.
Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly gifted Mendes his own Greek island after he brokered the five-time Ballon D’Or winner’s dream move to Real Madrid in 2009.
One wonders how Fernandes would reward the most influential agent in football if he starts next season in the red of Man United.
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