With Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa arriving for a combined fee of around £55 million, Graham Potter certainly got the midfield additions he was crying out for at West Ham United.
Just in time, too.
And if Magassa can emulate Fernandes’ flying start to life at the Premier League outfit, well a dismal start to the campaign may soon feel like a distant memory.
Mateus Fernandes became an immediate fan favourite as West Ham United stunned Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Just one week after a ‘very worried’ Tony Gale watched a Hammers side devoid of any pace or intensity choke at home to Chelsea, Fernandes brought the ‘different dimension’ Potter was so craving.
Magassa, signed for an initial fee of £14 million, certainly has the youthful exuberance and the skillset to make a similarly immediate impact.
Over in the Netherlands, meanwhile, Feyenoord and their technical director Dennis te Kloese were as happy as anyone of a Hammers persuasion to see Fernandes and Magassa arrive within 12 hours of each other last Friday.
Because that meant Quinten Timber, another of the midfielders featuring highly on that pre-deadline shortlist, would be staying put for at least another few months.
Dennis te Kloese delighted as West Ham United target Quinten Timber stays at Feyenoord
Te Kloese insisted towards the end of August that West Ham had not contacted Feyenoord regarding a potential £23 million deal for the 2023 Eredivisie champion.
That might have changed, though, if both Southampton and Monaco had opted to slam down the proverbial shutters.
To paraphrase Rafael van der Vaart, one of the finest Dutch footballers of the modern era, Quinten Timber is a Champions League-level player ready for a bigger stage upon which to showcase his barnstorming ball-carrying and his penchant for edge-of-the-box finishes.
“We’re thrilled he’s staying here and can call himself a Feyenoord player for the coming period,” Te Kloese told the Feyenoord website.
“He brings something extra, a certain strength and personality. In difficult moments, he often takes the team by the hand to help them rise above themselves. That is simply incredibly valuable.”
Timber did lose the captain’s armband during a summer of incessant speculation, however. A decision which left Te Kloese surprised initially, but one he can now understand given the uncertainty swirling around him.
“Quinten is a fantastic player and a leader, but the possibility of him leaving this summer was constantly hanging over the market,” the director adds, backing his head coach Robin van Persie.
“As a manager, especially with a team that has seen a few key players leave, you want to go into pre-season with a captain who also indicates he’s 100 per cent committed to Feyenoord this season.
“Quinten explicitly kept the door open for an international adventure throughout the entire window. That’s fine but, in my opinion, the manager’s choice of a different captain is a reasonable consequence.
“Now that the window has closed, I can say that we at Feyenoord are all happy that Quinten is still here.”
West Ham could return for Eredivisie winner as lack of movement stuns Dutch pundits
The twin brother of Arsenal’s former Ajax defender Jurrien Timber, Feyenoord probably only have a couple of weeks of calm to look forward to at best. Quinten Timber’s contract expires next summer.
And with West Ham’s midfielder overhaul only partially completed – Tomas Soucek and James Ward-Prowse are both in their 30s now while Guido Rodriguez is clearly not a long-term option either – the longer those contract talks drag on, the louder the rumours will be.
“I think it’s very important that Quinten Timber has stayed on board,” Eredivisie reporter Sjoerd Mossou tells AD Voetbalpodcast. “A player his age, 25, but with only a year left on his contract and an excellent record. That’s quite striking [that he stays in Rotterdam].”
“If you’re his agent, you can surely take a player like that to a good club or a good league. Viewed objectively from a distance, it’s quite remarkable that this player is staying at Feyenoord. He’s proven to be one of the best, if not the best, player in recent weeks.”
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