{"id":11332,"date":"2026-05-20T18:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=11332"},"modified":"2026-05-20T18:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:47:18","slug":"chelsea-have-joined-race-for-mateus-fernandes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=11332","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea have joined race for Mateus Fernandes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/NewsArticle\">\n<!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<h6>News<span> \u00bb <\/span>Premier League news<span> \u00bb <\/span>Chelsea news<\/h6>\n<p class=\"articletimestamp\">May 19, 2026 20:44 GMT (UK), by <!-- Author Start -->Sri Aswin<!-- Author End -->\n<\/p>\n<h6>View Chelsea summer 2026 transfer targets<\/h6>\n<div style=\"float:right\">\n<figure>\n<p class=\"article_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eyefootball.com\/imghold\/largestMateusFernandes_2026.jpg\" title=\"Chelsea have joined race for Mateus Fernandes\" alt=\"Chelsea have joined race for Mateus Fernandes\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/p><figcaption><em itemprop=\"articleSection\">Fernandes to Chelsea?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span itemprop=\"articleBody\"><br \/>\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size:16px\">\n<strong>Chelsea have reportedly joined the pursuit of West Ham United midfielder <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Matthew Fernandes<\/span><\/span>  ahead of the summer transfer window.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- responsive_ad --><\/p>\n<p>The Blues currently have <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Moises Caicedo<\/span><\/span>  and <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Enzo Fernandez<\/span><\/span>  as their first-choice midfielders in the central positions.<\/p>\n<p><span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Romeo Lavia<\/span><\/span>  and <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Andrey Santos<\/span><\/span>  are among the backups, but the former has been largely injury-prone in his young career.<\/p>\n<p>He was once again injured before the FA Cup final against Manchester City and reports claim that the Blues are ready to cut their losses on him.<\/p>\n<p>In that case, a new midfielder could be pursued and the hierarchy have been particularly impressed by the scout reports on Fernandes this term.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the Hammers languishing in the drop zone, Fernandes has been brilliant with his defensive contributions and excelled higher up too.<\/p>\n<p>The Portuguese has managed nine goal contributions. The Hammers could be prepared to sell him for around\u00a0\u00a350 million if they are relegated.<\/p>\n<p>However, the price could rise to\u00a0\u00a380 million if they beat the drop.<br \/><!-- Article End --><\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- newadv --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\nvar js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0);\nif (d.getElementById(id)) return;\njs = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\njs.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\nfjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News \u00bb Premier League news \u00bb Chelsea news May 19, 2026 20:44 GMT (UK), by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}