Mateus Fernandes is being heavily linked with a summer move to Manchester United. The man who brought him to West Ham could play a role in taking the midfielder to Old Trafford.
Manchester United have a big job on their hands this summer. It involves replacing Casemiro and revamping the midfield.
Most of United’s midfield targets have Premier League experience, but some of them will have the summer off due to having no involvement in the 2026 World Cup.
That includes West Ham star, Mateus Fernandes. The Portuguese midfielder is expected to leave the London Stadium in the coming months, and he’ll be even cheaper if West Ham get relegated from the Premier League on Sunday.
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Man Utd is Mateus Fernandes’ most likely Premier League destination
To stay in the Premier League for another season, West Ham needs to beat Leeds and hope that David Moyes’ Everton side takes three points from Tottenham.
The i Paper claims West Ham will suffer a loss of £100m in the event of relegation.
That means several West Ham stars, such as Fernandes, have uncertain futures, with United also being linked with Jarrod Bowen.
Appearing on the United! United! United! podcast, Jacob Steinberg from The Guardian claims that Fernandes is more likely to play for United than any other English club next season.
Steinberg also reveals that Fernandes has connections at United. They include Kyle Macauley and Jason Wilcox.
Macauley was West Ham’s recruitment chief when they signed Fernandes and he’s now working at United.
Meanwhile, Fernandes played for Southampton before signing for the Hammers, and United chief Wilcox has history with the Saints.
“There’s quite a few clubs in for him. The information I had this week was that if he were to stay at any club in England, then the place he’d be most likely to go is United.
“There are some links there, the biggest one being Kyle Macauley, who was at West Ham briefly as their recruitment chief, and he brought Fernandes to West Ham last summer. He left when Graham Potter was sacked and turned up at [West Ham] United. You also have Jason Wilcox with Fernandes being an ex-Southampton player and Wilcox’s history at Southampton.
“Obviously if West Ham go down, his price goes down. If they stay up, they’ll be looking at the sale of Fernandes as something almost on its own solves their financial problems.”
Along with Kyle Macauley, Fernandes will also know the Portugal internationals in United’s first-team.
- ⚡️ NEWS IN BRIEF
- Mateus Fernandes is more likely to join Manchester United than other Premier League clubs
- The West Ham star has connections at Old Trafford such as Kyle Macauley
- Relegation for West Ham would make the transfer an easier process for United
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How much did West Ham pay for Mateus Fernandes?
West Ham will hope to make a sizeable profit on Fernandes, but that will be difficult if they are relegated this season.
The Hammers paid £38m to sign Fernandes from Southampton in August 2025.
Fernandes is one of West Ham’s biggest assets, but they could come under pressure to raise funds quickly depending on results in the Premier League this weekend.
We’ll keep a close eye on Fernandes-to-United updates in the coming weeks.
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