Who would be YOUR first port of call as West Ham United look to reinvest the Mateus Fernandes windfall on a new midfielder or two?
Well, based on the responses from Hammers News’ TalkingPoint users, a lot of you would be googling the dial code for France and checking in on Jordan James.
According to reports, Rennes are willing to sell the Welshman for £13 million this summer.
How would YOU feel if West Ham sold Fernandes and bought Jordan James?
The Welshman is available for £13m… 🏴
£13 million for a midfielder with 129 Championship appearances under his belt at the age of 22. A midfielder who scored eleven league goals last season in a dreadful Leicester City side in addition to claiming the competition’s Young Player of the Year award.
No wonder West Ham United fans seem keen on the idea.
West Ham fans pick Jordan James over Sheffield United’s Sydie Peck
At the time of writing, 41 per cent of you selected James as the stand-out option amid four midfielders tipped to help the Hammers move on from Mateus Fernandes. Sheffield United’s Sydie Peck comes in at second with 32 per cent of the vote, ahead of FC Metz youngster Alpha Toure and Hibernian dynamo Josh Mulligan.
This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, really.
James and Peck are both ‘proven’ performers at Championship level. Wales international James is keen on a return to England, too, at least according to Rennes’ sporting director Loic Desire. Though the Premier League may be his dream destination, West Ham could be a top-flight club again before long if all goes to plan.
Especially if he brings his Leicester form to East London, in a more settled environment with better players around him.
After scoring from distance against Sunderland in January, Mateus Fernandes admitted his West Ham teammates had been begging him to shoot more often. James will not need telling to do the same.
His eleven goals last season came from an ‘expected goals’ tally of less than five. This means that only two players in the whole of the Championship over-performed their XG numbers to a greater degree.
There is also chance that two of those could end up wearing claret and blue.
Hammers like Swansea City striker Zan Vipotnik
Hammers News have long since revealed that Swansea City’s Golden Boot winner Zan Vipotnik was recommended to the club by the recently-departed head of recruitment Max Hahn.
The Championship’s top scorer, the Championship’s Young Player of the Year, and two of the three best XG overperformers in the competition? If West Ham are serious about making East London home to the best second-tier talent on the market, reinvesting those Fernandes millions in both Vipotnik and James would certainly represent a clear statement of intent.
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Vipotnik is the name on the lips of West Ham fans when it comes to striker signings. James, meanwhile, appears to be many people’s favourites for the midfield department.
Any money left over could be used to sign Alpha Toure from Metz.
Toure confirmed he is ‘interested’ in joining West Ham this week, having reportedly turned down offers from Saudi Arabia in favour of the London Stadium. Still only 20, it is alleged that the Hammers could get a deal done for as little as £6 million.
Mere pocket money to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
Bloomberg revealed on Friday that Kretinsky is set to inject £100m into the club purely in order to fund a rebuild of Nuno’s squad.
A summertime spending spree, anyone?
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