They say things can happen quickly in football, and in the case of West Ham’s Edimilson Fernandes, that’s exactly what appears to be happening.
Towards the middle of January, Gazzetta dello Sport, when looking at what Fiorentina’s future transfer plans could be, reported it was unlikely La Viola, where the Switzerland international is currently on loan, would pay the €9m buy-out clause in his deal.
However, that was before his great performance in the 7-1 dismantling of Roma in the Coppa Italia and prior to his equaliser at the weekend in a 1-1 draw against Udinese.
Now on 10 starts in a row when not suspended, the 22-year-old appears to be one of the first names on Stefano Pioli’s team sheet, and everything points towards Fiorentina considering spending the money come the end of the season.
There has, so far, been no indication they actually will, but the hype surrounding the West Ham loanee led Corriere dello Sport to sit down with him and dedicate two pages in their Thursday newspaper to an interview.
Among the many questions they asked, among which they discovered he wants to be more like Paul Pogba on the pitch, the Italian newspaper quizzed the midfielder about his future and what he would like to happen.
He said: “I’m only focused on trying to improve on the pitch, that’s where I want to do the talking. It’s still too soon to take stock: I’m mainly looking to contribute in getting the team as high up the table as possible, and then we’ll see.”
Dodging the answer rather masterfully, almost like a veteran, Fernandes clearly isn’t as keen to leave the Hammers as, let’s say, Tiemoué Bakayoko is to remain in Milan (he doesn’t want to return to Chelsea).
Either way, as long as Fiorentina haven’t paid West Ham the €9m, it’s not a question he needs to ask himself.
