Manchester United are preparing an opening bid for West Ham midfielder Mateus Fernandes, Your Site News understands.
The 21-year-old is now viewed as a priority target for Man Utd, with midfield an area they have been keen to strengthen this summer.
Your Site News also understands West Ham value Fernandes at around ÂŁ80m and are in no rush to sell the player.
Man Utd are unlikely to entertain such a price tag - the two clubs will have to find a compromise for a deal to be done after the Hammers signed Fernandes for an initial fee of ÂŁ38m last summer from Southampton.
Decision makers inside West Ham believe Fernandes was one of the best young players in the Premier League last season and has the potential to become as good as Declan Rice, who was sold to Arsenal for ÂŁ105m in 2023.
West Ham aren't ruling out Fernandes staying to help them achieve promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking but are aware of the difficulty in that, with Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain also reported to be interested in the player.
Your Site' Sam Blitz:
Last season, Fernandes proved his status as one of the Premier League's toughest tacklers and it's a feature that stands out for those who know him.
"That's no surprise that his tackling stats are very high," Simon Rusk, who worked with Fernandes at Southampton, tells Your Site.
"Both speaking to him and observing him, I could see that would be a feature in his game - and a strength."
Alongside the tough-tackling nature is a lot of high-intensity running to get to the challenge in the first place.
Fernandes sits in the top 10 Premier League midfielders for distance covered. And again, it follows the same pattern: if Anderson is the best first-choice option on the market, then Fernandes is pretty much the next best option available.
It wasn't always the plan when Fernandes was signed by Southampton; he was seen by then boss Russell Martin as a more advanced option.
"He was used as a little bit more as a No 10, a little bit more of an advanced role," he says. "But when I spoke to Matty through conversations with him, quite apparently, he saw himself as more of an all-round midfield player, more of a No 8.
"And that would lend himself to the defensive side of the game. What Matty wanted to do, he wanted to run. He wanted to be involved in the game as much as possible.
"But certainly, looking at his performances at West Ham this year, he certainly moved forward in terms of his game intelligence and mixed in with his strength, his tenacity and his engine."
West Ham noticed that desire for Fernandes to play slightly deeper too - using him mainly as a hybrid option between a No 6 and a No 8 in the season just gone.
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