Mateus Fernandes will spark huge concern at West Ham after making a terrifying admission just two months into his Hammers career.
Fans were over the moon when West Ham finally fronted the money to sign Mateus Fernandes from Southampton in the summer.
The Hammers failed to take advantage of an extended three-month transfer window to make the major improvements needed.
Meanwhile their Premier League rivals set a new record for spending in a single window.
That suggested every single club, including the promoted sides, had improved significantly more than West Ham.
Fernandes’ terrifying admission just two months in at West Ham
And that has proved to be the case on the pitch so far with the Hammers languishing in the relegation zone a quarter of the way through the season.
One signing that did fill fans with hope was that of Fernandes.
No player aged 21 and under across Europe’s top five leagues won the ball back for their side more than Fernandes did with Southampton last season.
West Ham were linked with the Saints ace all summer until finally agreeing to a £40m fee for the highly-rated former Sporting star.
An example of just how highly rated was Portugal boss Roberto Martinez advising the 21-year-old to push for a move back to the Premier League because he is keen to have him in the senior squad for next summer’s World Cup.
Fernandes did just that by joining West Ham in a £40m move that had fans excited.
Many felt he was just what the team needed, an energetic, talented box-to-box midfielder capable of winning the ball and scoring the odd goal.
However, it is fair to say it has been a mixed start thus far for the Portugal Under 21 captain at West Ham.
Brilliant on his debut in a 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest, Fernandes – like the team – has struggled to maintain that level of performance since.
He often finds himself being subbed off in games.
There was hope that the arrival of his fellow Portuguese Nuno Espirito Santo would get the best out of Fernandes.
Fernandes admission will set alarm bells ringing in east London
Especially as Nuno was pushing for Forest to sign the midfielder ahead of the Hammers in the summer window.
But Nuno has been taking Fernandes off too and, rather inexplicably, left him out of the starting XI for the big game at Leeds last time out.
Fernandes responded in the best possible way by playing well and scoring – albeit a consolation – in the 2-1 defeat at Elland Road.
But the young midfielder’s comments since will have alarm bells ringing among supporters and the club’s hierarchy.
Because Fernandes has made a terrifying admission after just two months at West Ham.
The Irons were pretty abject in defeats to Brentford and Leeds as they stretched their losing streak to three in four games under Nuno so far.
The head coach did not cover himself in glory with a string of bizarre decisions and selection choices.
That included dropping Soungoutou Magassa and Fernandes from the side for two crucial matches with dire consequences.
West Ham are stuck in the relegation zone on four points from nine games played and need back-to-back wins and results to go for them elsewhere just to get out of the bottom three.
Things have been so poor West Ham are being tipped to threaten Premier League records for the lowest points total in a season.
Southampton looked set to break that unwelcome record last season, but just managed to surpass the Prem’s worst ever outfit, the 2007-2008 Derby side which gathered just 11 points.
Fernandes was one of Southampton’s shining lights in a dismal campaign.
It says a lot that West Ham were still willing to pay £40m for him despite his relegation with the Saints.
The Hammers have been reminding fans, pundits and journalists of that Southampton team which finished on 12 points last term.
The likes of Jamie Carragher believe this West Ham team is one of the worst he has seen in the top flight, citing their lack of dynamism and pace as major issues.
Nobody is better placed than Fernandes to compare the current Hammers side to last season’s relegated Saints.
And in a gravely concerning but brutally honest admission, Fernandes says this West Ham team reminds him very much of that Southampton side.
Hammers already remind Fernandes of woeful Saints
Fernandes has shown real maturity by coming out and bluntly admitting the Hammers are simply not competing enough or showing enough bravery, spirit and fight.
He has called for his teammates to show they are ‘big guys’ and fight to survive.
But he admits West Ham already remind him of the doomed Saints side he dropped with last term.
The good news is, Fernandes believes one good game and result can turn everything around as he calls for the players, fans and board to show trust in new head coach Nuno.
“It’s a very difficult moment for everybody,” Fernandes told West Ham TV.
“We need to be big guys now and show a lot of personality. I think we can show more, we need to play more, run more, fight more, everything more.
“But like I said, it’s a moment, it’s football. We need to work hard in silence. I know it’s a difficult moment for the fans as well, but we need to stick together, everybody, to get some points and win the games.
“Last season for me it was the same, and one game can change everything. So we need to focus on our goal, our game, what we can do more, what we need to do more…
“But I think if you look at the squad, we see a lot of quality, but in the Premier League it’s not about quality, it’s about intensity, it’s about fighting once more and we need to show more. I trust my teammates, we can do it much better and I’m sure we will do much better.”
The good news is that after nine games of last season, Southampton had just one point – whereas West Ham have four right now.
The bad news is that the Hammers had three times as many points (12) as they do now compared to the same stage of last term.
There’s only one way for Fernandes and his teammates to avoid becoming this season’s Southampton – starting with what would be a shock result against Newcastle this weekend.
