It’s been something of a middling summer for West Ham United so far this year.
On the pitch, Graham Potter’s side have looked decent enough, with wins against Grasshoppers, Everton, Bournemouth and LOSC Lille, but a defeat to Manchester United.
Likewise, while they’ve not done anything remarkable, the club’s transfer dealings have been solid enough, with Mads Hermansen, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Kyle Walker-Peters all capable of making an impact in the first team.
Fortunately, the board appear intent on making more additions to the team before the window shuts, and one of the names most heavily linked is Mateus Fernandes, although if reports are to be believed, another, better player may now be in the mix as well.
West Ham target Fernandes alternative
The links between West Ham and Fernandes began popping up towards the end of last month, and since then have only become more and more concrete.
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It’s not hard to see why the Irons would want to sign the Southampton ace, as he’s already played in the Premier League, can play in attacking and central midfield and, at 21, has plenty of time to develop.
However, with talk of him costing £30m or more, it’s unsurprising to learn that the Eastenders are now also looking at someone who could be the perfect alternative.
At least that is according to a recent report from Italian outlet Roma News, which claims West Ham are very interested in Lorenzo Pellegrini.
In fact, the report goes further than that, revealing that the Premier League outfit have already been in talks with Roma over the Italian ace.
In more good news, the story claims that the 29-year-old may be allowed to leave for free this summer as I Giallorossi want to get his €7m-per-year wages off the books.
It’s undoubtedly a transfer that has come out of left field, but Pellegrini could be the perfect alternative to Fernandes for West Ham this summer.
Why Pellegrini would be the perfect alternative to Fernandes
So, with both players being somewhat versatile but favouring central midfield, it does seem unlikely that West Ham would sign both.
In that case, why would Pellegrini be the perfect alternative to Fernandes?
Well, the first and simply unavoidable advantage to signing the Roma star is that he’d save the Irons at least £30m in transfer fees, and in doing so, would allow the club to invest more heavily in other areas of the team.
Second, while the Southampton star might have a season of Premier League football under his belt, the Italian international has far more top-flight experience.
For example, he has made 316 appearances for Roma, producing 114 goal involvements, and 54 for Sassuolo, with 18 goal involvements.
Appearances
316
54
Goals
55
11
Assists
59
7
Goal Involvements*
0.36
0.33
He has also won 36 senior caps for Gli Azzurri, scoring six goals and providing two assists.
On top of that, he managed to score four goals and provided two assists in the ten Conference League appearances in the 21/22 season, the same year Roma won the competition, making it clear he has what it takes to help his side get over the line in big competitions.
Finally, if you still need some convincing about the 29-year-old, then perhaps Claudio Ranieri’s comparison of him to Frank Lampard will do the trick.
“I’ve had two amazing goalscoring midfielders in my career. One is [Frank] Lampard and the other is Pellegrini.
Ultimately, there might be long-term upside to Fernandes, but it seems quite clear that Potter would get more out of Pellegrini over the next year or so, and given how poorly last season went, that could be massively important.
Therefore, West Ham should be doing all they can to bring the Italian star to the London Stadium this summer.