While Graham Potter may be wishing that the transfer window still had a couple of months left to run – West Ham United’s pursuit of Mateus Fernandes dragging on – the opposite is likely to be true of Southampton boss Will Still.
Having bid farewell to Mohammed Kudus in July, West Ham United are hurtling towards deadline day fully focused on adding to their squad rather than fearing the departure of any more key players.
Speculation surrounding Lucas Paqueta drags on, although captain Jarrod Bowen cannot envisage the Brazilian leaving any time soon. All quiet on the West Ham front, regarding big-money sales that is.
But while Southampton have plenty of irons in the fire themselves – Lucas Kabore, Finn Azaz and Edouard Spertsyan are just three of the names being worked on – Will Still is surely looking forward to a day when his press conferences are no longer dominated by talk of Tyler Dibling and Mateus Fernandes.
Will Still gives Mateus Fernandes update as Southampton reject second West Ham United bid
After Southampton rejected West Ham’s opening bid last week, the Saints turned down an improved offer worth £32 million in the build up to Friday’s London derby with Chelsea.
There remains a sense of confidence, however, with Hammers News’ chief football correspondent Graeme Bailey explaining that West Ham could still get a deal done in the region of £40 million.
While the gap between the two clubs remains substantial enough, it is not quite the £20 million chasm some initially feared.
Still confirms that Fernandes will be part of Southampton’s squad for this weekend’s match with Championship pace-setters Stoke City. But the new man in charge also accepts that things are ‘moving’ towards a conclusion with deadline day approaching.
“Yeah, that is moving,” former Lens coach Still said when asked for an update on any potential outgoings, via the Daily Echo. “There will be stuff that happens before the end of the week.
“There are a load of situations that come up, and that you sort of think, ‘OK’. Like, national team coaches telling players that they need to be at a first division club or top five leagues to get into contention and thinking about World Cups and stuff.
“The transfer window is what it is. It creates a load of situations, but we’re working on it. There is activity within the club. It’s just a complicated market for the moment, I think.
“100 per cent,” added the 32-year-old tactician when asked if Fernandes and Everton target Tyler Dibling will feature against Mark Robins’ Stoke.
“They need to be wanting to win football games. We’ll base our decisions on training and football and not on speculation.”
Fernandes ‘relaxed’ as West Ham target Andrey Santos and Marc Casado
Whether Still was referring to Mateus Fernandes when talking about World Cup prospects is anyone’s guess.
The Sporting Lisbon graduate is yet to make his debut for Portugal’s senior side, though there is a chance he could force his way into the picture with a well-timed return to the Premier League stage.
“Ty [Dibling] is fine by the way. He’s trained really well. He’s totally fine. He’s relaxed. The same thing goes for Matty [Fernandes] and all the rest,” Still concludes. “I don’t know. If something does happen, then you’ll probably know before I do.”
West Ham reportedly failed in a bid to sign Andrey Santos from Friday’s opponents Chelsea too, while The Guardian claim that an approach for Barcelona youngster Marc Casado was also ‘unsuccessful’.
Interestingly, Hammers News can confirm that both head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay and head coach Graham Potter are big fans of Tyler Dibling. But with West Ham’s midfield in dire need of strengthening, Everton appear to have a relatively clear run at the 19-year-old winger.
