Leaving Benfica, Mourinho wants ex-Sporting midfielder at Real Madrid | OneFootball

José Mourinho is not Real Madrid’s coach, but he already has a former Sporting player in his sights to strengthen los blancos. Mateus Fernandes is being mentioned. The midfielder could join the Spanish side, along with Ibrahima Konaté.

According to newspaper AS, the West Ham midfielder is liked by José Mourinho, the Benfica manager who will take charge of Real Madrid again if Florentino Pérez wins this Sunday’s election against Enrique Riquelme. Also linked with Manchester United, Arsenal and PSG, the Portuguese international midfielder, who was not called up for the World Cup, is now being associated with Real Madrid.

The publication stresses that West Ham’s relegation and the growing closeness between Los Galácticos and agent Jorge Mendes are key factors for a possible deal. However, journalist Ben Jacobs recently assured that the Hammers do not want to sell the player at a reduced price because of relegation.

The London club is asking for double what it paid for him (which was £38 million plus another £4 million in add-ons, to Southampton). As such, the asking price would be around €90 million, also because West Ham need to make €100 million in sales and the Portuguese international is one of their most valuable assets.

At 21, Mateus Fernandes, who came through at Sporting, was one of the Premier League’s breakout players. After a few months at Southampton, he moved to West Ham, for whom he made 38 appearances in 2025/26, scoring four goals and adding four assists, which earned him his senior national team debut a few months ago.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.