- Mateus Fernandes has made an undeniable impact at West Ham United
- The Portuguese is expected to depart the London Stadium this summer following relegation
- The Championship Player of the Season features on the list
West Ham United have a lot of issues to resolve this summer. The club’s relegation has forced them to make tough choices about their squad, address financial concerns, and build a side capable of a quick return to the Premier League.
The question of what would happen if Mateus Fernandes left is the most pressing one.
The midfield metronome arrived from Southampton with promise but has grown into something far more valuable. In a season that highlighted breakdowns throughout West Ham’s squad, Fernandes emerged as one of the club’s rare success stories. At 21, he combines technical quality and energy in a profile that makes him tough to replace and more appealing to higher-level clubs.
That is the challenge confronting West Ham’s recruitment department. Fernandes will inevitably leave this summer, and the club must start planning for a future without him. Replacing one of their most prized assets will not require finding a like-for-like replacement; those players are rarely available, particularly to Championship clubs. Instead, it will be necessary to select the next midfielder capable of maturing into the position.
Here are the three players who may meet those characteristics.
Kévin Danois
Statistically speaking, Kévin Danois is one of the closest attainable Fernandes replacements on the market. The French midfielder is Kévin Danois tempo-setter; an adept tight-space operator whose ball-carrying adds real value in aiding his team’s transitional game.
Like Fernandes, Auxerre’s 21-year-old averages at least five recoveries, 0.8 successful dribbles and 2.8 accurate long balls per game according to Fotmob. Danois’ all-rounder profile is the type of player that West Ham will miss once their aforementioned Portuguese man leaves.
Danois, who has made 115 appearances for Auxerre’s first-team and B team – a similar amount to Fernandes before he joined the Hammers, is valued at €12 millon and has been loosely linked with a move to the Premier League. Whether he would settle for a rotational role at a current top-light team is unknown, but one would expect his next move to be somewhere that can platform him for the next step, which West Ham could sell as a hopeful title-winning side in the second division.
Vinicius Souza
An older player, 27 when the domestic club season returns, Vinicius Souza may not command the sell-on fee that the other two on this list would, as the club would want to recruit a profit on their recruitment. However, the Brazilian’s appeal lies in his experience in the second division.
Vinicius played for Sheffield United for two seasons, part of their 2024-25 team that reached the Championship play-off final before losing to Sunderland. The Blades broke the Belgian second-tier transfer record on Vinicius from Lommel, and it was clear in his one non-Premier League year why. A simply destructive physical presence, who chews up ground à la countryman Joelinton of Newcastle United.
Of course, Vinicius would not be a like-for-like replacement for Fernandes, but would partly serve as a succession plan for Tomáš Souček regardless of his future this summer.
Talking about the second tier, his current club, Wolfsburg were relegated to 2. Bundesliga after losing the relegation playoffs to Paderborn. The Volkswagen club will likely not command the same appeal from their drop as West Ham will, given the allure of Premier League promotion, and thus, tempting a return to England for Vinicius.
Hayden Hackney
It would be negligent not to suggest the 2025-26 Championship Player of the Season. Stylistically, Hayden Hackney is as close as it gets for West Ham in replacing Fernandes. The Middlesbrough midfielder passes and carries the ball in his sleep, and his numbers in the EFL have been out of this world for the past two seasons. He is the sort of dynamic playmaker who can shift a team’s play in an instant.
Following the drawn-out saga of Spygate, it could have been a formality that Hackney would have been a Premier League player with Boro. However, their playoff final last month means that, as it stands, their 23-year-old starlet remains a second-division player.
There are, of course, character issues that have to be addressed. Hackney received a six-game suspension by the Football Association in 2022 for spitting on an opponent, the type of act that would be on full blast in claret and blue, given the media glare. However, the club’s background checks should show that the last four years in the EFL should have aided his character development.
Hackney has a year left on his contract at Middlesbrough. It’s all but certain he will be off, with a number of teams vying for his signature. If West Ham’s hierarchy are serious about getting back to the Premier League, laying out their plans and securing a player of this calibre would be the statement that assures that.
