Manchester United Eye £80m Mateus Fernandes as Liverpool’s Elliott Loan Fails
Manchester United and Liverpool went shopping in the same Premier League market last summer. Twelve months on, their receipts tell very different stories.
A detailed ranking of all 189 Premier League signings from last season, compiled by The Athletic, has thrown that contrast into sharp focus. United’s business lands comfortably in the top tier. Liverpool’s most painful misstep is buried at the very bottom.
United’s new core passes the test
All four of United’s headline arrivals made the top 40, an endorsement of a recruitment drive that had been heavily scrutinised at the time.
- Matheus Cunha, slotted in at 40th, gave United an extra gear in attack.
- Bryan Mbeumo, at 38th, brought direct running and end product from wide areas.
- Benjamin Sesko, ranked 29th, grew into the season and into the shirt, hinting at a long-term solution up front.
- The standout, though, was Senne Lammens. The Belgian goalkeeper, rated ninth overall, delivered a debut campaign that stabilised United from the back. Reliable hands, commanding presence, and the kind of calm distribution that modern managers demand – his impact was instant.
Those four ratings don’t just flatter individuals. They paint a picture of a club that, for once, hit more than it missed in the market.
Now United are eyeing another name from the same list. And this one sits even higher.
Mateus Fernandes: the £80m bright light in West Ham’s relegation
In eighth place comes Mateus Fernandes, the midfielder now firmly on United’s radar.
West Ham plucked the Portugal international from Southampton for £40m, a sizeable outlay that looked shrewd long before the final whistle on a grim season at the London Stadium. The Hammers went down. Fernandes’ reputation went up.
When Lucas Paqueta departed in January, someone had to take responsibility for the ball, for the tempo, for the risk. Fernandes stepped straight into that void. The Athletic’s assessment captured the breadth of his influence: tackles, duels, recoveries, long-range goals, incisive passes – a complete midfield profile in a team fighting for air.
He became the chief playmaker in a side sliding towards the Championship and still managed to excel. That kind of performance under pressure is exactly what drives a price tag through the roof.
West Ham now value him at around £80m. Relegation weakens their hand, but it doesn’t erase the numbers on the balance sheet. They know what they have, and they know who is watching.
For United, the attraction runs deeper than the data. Fernandes idolises Bruno Fernandes, the current captain at Old Trafford and the creative heartbeat of the team. The idea of the younger Portuguese midfielder learning alongside his countryman is an obvious storyline, but it’s also a tactical fit: energy, aggression, and the ability to break lines with both pass and shot.
Sources indicate personal terms would not be an obstacle. The question is simpler and harsher: how far are United willing to go? And at what figure do West Ham finally blink?
Liverpool’s record spend, mixed returns
While United quietly banked a strong window, Liverpool went big. Very big.
They broke their transfer record twice. First came Florian Wirtz at £116m. Then Alexander Isak at £125m. Two marquee arrivals, two statements of intent.
The rankings tell a more sobering tale.
- Wirtz only just squeezed into the top 100 at 97th.
- Isak, hampered by an injury-hit campaign that never really allowed him to build rhythm, slumped to 172nd out of 189. For those fees, the club expected centrepiece signings. Instead, they got flickers and frustration.
- Milos Kerkez emerged as the best of Liverpool’s intake at 49th, a solid return and a rare bright spot in a patchy recruitment picture.
- Hugo Ekitike followed closely at 50th, while Giorgi Mamardashvili came in at 73rd and Freddie Woodman at 89th, each offering depth but not transformation.
- Jeremie Frimpong, curiously subdued and far from his explosive best, found himself down in 119th.
- Giovanni Leoni, cruelly struck by an ACL tear on his debut, landed at 143rd – a ranking that reflects misfortune more than misjudgement.
The harshest verdict, though, was reserved for a deal that didn’t even involve a permanent transfer.
Harvey Elliott’s Aston Villa loan hits rock bottom
Dead last. 189th out of 189. That’s where Harvey Elliott’s loan to Aston Villa landed.
The move was supposed to accelerate his development, give him regular minutes in a high-energy, tactically sophisticated side under Unai Emery. Instead, it unravelled into what The Athletic bluntly described as “a catastrophic deal for both clubs and the player”.
Villa surged through the season with Emery as the brain and John McGinn as the heart of the midfield. Elliott, by contrast, became an afterthought – “their appendix,” as the report put it.
He managed just three starts. Emery clearly didn’t trust him in the key moments, and the relationship between opportunity and obligation turned toxic. A clause in the loan meant an obligation to buy would be triggered after 10 appearances. Elliott reached nine by March.
Attempts to fix the situation failed. Talks to cut the loan short in January went nowhere. Efforts in February to remove the obligation-to-buy clause, which would have allowed him to play during an injury crisis, also collapsed. Everyone lost: Liverpool, Villa, and a 23-year-old attacking midfielder whose talent is not in doubt but whose season was effectively wasted.
For a club that prides itself on smart squad planning, the word “shambolic” used in the report will sting.
Xhaka tops the list as Sunderland’s symbol of revival
At the very top of the 189-man ranking sits a familiar name in an unexpected setting: Granit Xhaka.
The former Arsenal midfielder has become the emblem of Sunderland’s remarkable return to the elite. In their first season back in the Premier League, they didn’t just survive – they punched their way into the Europa League.
Xhaka’s presence, leadership and control in midfield underpinned that surge. For a club rebuilding its identity, he became the anchor and the standard.
His rise to number one in the list underlines a broader truth about the window: the smartest deals are not always the loudest.
United weigh up the next big swing
So the table is set. United, buoyed by a strong recent hit rate in the market, are now staring at a decision that could define their midfield for years.
Mateus Fernandes, eighth in the Premier League’s 189 signings last season, looks ready for the next step. He wants the move. West Ham need to sell, but not cheaply. United have money to spend, but also scars from past mistakes.
Do they push the boat out for a player who has already shown he can carry a struggling side and shape a game? Or do they walk away from an £80m gamble and risk watching him dominate elsewhere?
This time, the ranking is only the start of the argument.
