West Ham sold Edimilson Fernandes to Mainz in June 2019 for around €9 million (£7.7 million), according to Viola Nation.
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And maybe that is now beginning to look like a mistake.
Central midfield must be an area of concern for Hammers boss David Moyes.
The Scot has brilliant duo Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice at his disposal, but outside of those two his options are worryingly thin.
Mark Noble is the only orthodox central midfielder we have as backup for Soucek and Rice.
And should the Czech ace or the Englishman suffer a serious injury, West Ham could be in real trouble this season.
Surely we should have kept hold of Edimilson Fernandes. The dynamic 24-year-old has bundles of energy, athleticism and stamina. The Switzerland international would have been perfectly suited to David Moyes’s hard-working setup at the London Stadium.
In 24 Bundesliga outings for Mainz last season, the former Hammer averaged 1.4 tackles, 1.3 interceptions, 1.9 clearances and 0.8 dribbles per game. He also averaged 28.5 passes per match whilst recording a seriously impressive completion rate of 87% (Who Scored).
With proper coaching, Fernandes could very well have gone on to be a big star at West Ham.
We will never know just how good he could have been for us, however. And that is a real shame.
The Swiss ace would have been the ideal player for us right now and he would have provided highly competent cover and competition for Rice and Soucek.
Fernandes is definitely one that got away.
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