When was the last time West Ham United had what those in tactical circles tend to call a ‘deep-lying playmaker’?
Mateus Fernandes may be the ‘ultimate midfielder’ – to quote a former coach of his in Portugal – but he is a dynamic number eight. Tomas Soucek is a box-crasher whose talents are wasted in front of the defence.
Freddie Potts disappeared from view, Soungoutou Magassa struggled, while neither Guido Rodriguez, nor James Ward-Prowse or Andy Irving possessed the requisite mobility.
Fears grow after Soucek injury; Send your message to the Czech giant here! 👇
In fact, looking beyond Edson Alvarez, Flynn Downes, Carlos Soler, plus the more box-to-box Declan Rice and Pablo Fornals, you maybe have to go all the way back to Mark Noble when looking for someone who kept West Ham United ticking over while also doing his fair share of defensive donkey work.
Reports from Ben Jacobs this Thursday afternoon, claiming that West Ham are interested in Sunderland’s Dan Neil, could therefore be the beginning of the end for the club’s four-year pursuit of an heir to one of the club’s great captains.
West Ham United in the mix for Sunderland midfielder Dan Neil
Jacobs reports that West Ham have joined Rangers and newly-promoted Hull City in showing an interest in Neil.
His contract is due to expire in a week’s time, meaning the 24-year-old from South Shields will be available for free.
Another factor that will appeal greatly to West Ham is that Neil has successive promotions on his CV. He started 44 games in the Championship as Sunderland rose via the play-offs, before spending the second half of last season at Ipswich Town.
Can he make it three in a row at the London Stadium? Well, West Ham are already among the promotion favourites, and signing a midfielder with Neil’s talents and experience would further shorten those odds.
Neil is, in short, the sort of footballer West Ham haven’t had for quite some time. The former England Under-20 international started out as a number eight before blossoming as a number six under Regis Le Bris on Wearside.
He will not charge into the box before thumping home a header like Soucek. He will not motor through the thirds like Fernandes. What Neil will do, though, is he will distribute the ball cleanly and effectively, controlling the tempo, laying down the beat, while also putting out fires and mopping up spills.
“He’s very clever, very important [when we need to] adjust the formation and balance the team,” Le Bris told the Northern Echo in January 2025.
“[Neil] is very important for the team. He can add more things like more forward passes, tackling, counter-pressing, and you can see how strong he is as an individual player. But at the same time, the role he has for the balance of the team is very important.”
Neil would bring ‘really top game intelligence’ to the Hammers
Neil played a deeper role than he was used to under Le Bris. He was tasked with keeping the discipline and the shape at the heart of the midfield, while freeing up Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg to push on.
“We’ve played mostly a 4-3-3 and the role of six is very important to the team, especially to manage the counter attacks,” Le Bris added. “Dan is so important and impressive in that role.
“He’s very clever, very stable and he drove the ball at times as well. He is improving his way of playing with the team.”
The fixtures are out! How many points do West Ham NEED in the first 5 games?
Turf Moor is a tough start…
Neil averaged the most passes per game of any Sunderland midfielder that season, while also completing the second highest number of tackles. When he joined Ipswich in January, after falling behind Granit Xhaka, Habib Diarra and Noah Sadiki at big-spending Sunderland, it did not take long for him to settle into a familiar role.
“There is an adjustment when you go to a new club, and I think he has made the tactical adjustment fantastically well,” said former Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna. “He has shown his intelligence and experience as a footballer.
“His game intelligence is really top.”
If West Ham win the race, do not be surprised if Neil slots straight into Nuno’s XI and plays like he’s been wearing the claret and blue for years.
Nuno is intent on rebuilding a squad capable of dominating the Championship. West Ham are looking at numerous centre-halves, from Dael Fry to Dylan Lawlor, Ben Wilmot and Adam Webster. All are extremely comfortable with the ball at their feet and thrive in a possession-heavy gameplan.
Signing Neil – the metronome in Sunderland’s promotion-winning midfield – would shift the Hammers further towards a side capable of retaining possession high up the field when facing low blocks.
As Le Bris said, Neil also excels when required to stop opposition counters. For the sort of team West Ham need to be next season, it is hard to think of many better, and more affordable, candidates.
Neil has a lot in common with a young Mark Noble
‘Dynamism, control and understanding of the game’ are the three attributes Sunderland’s official website used to describe the academy graduate.
If West Ham want a deep-lying playmaker who can dictate the play while also plugging the gaps in transition, well, Dan Neil has been there and done that. Twice, actually.
“Am I a six? Am I an eight? Back then [in Sunderland’s academy], it was also, ‘Am I a 10?’ I think we can safely say I’m not a 10 anymore!” Neil told the Northern Echo in 2024.
“I enjoy both roles. When you’re playing as a six, you get a lot of the ball but you’re not as close to the goal to get goal involvements. If you play further up the pitch, you’re going to get more goal involvements, but you’re not going to see as much of the ball.
“I think one of my attributes is organising and being that voice on the pitch, and you can do that easier by being deeper. Some of the best midfielders in the world are sixes.”
Did we mention that Dan Neil was the man who captained Sunderland to play-off glory? Former Black Cats teammate Patrick Roberts called him a ‘real leader’.
Now, Neil is not an exact clone of Mark Noble – as Le Bris said, there are still a lot of things he needs to improve in an attacking sense – but the similarities are obvious.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
