Speaking to Mateus Fernandes, it is hard to believe West Ham United’s No18 is just 21 years old.
Fernandes speaks with a considered maturity that belies his tender years, and in a language he only began to learn in earnest less than two years ago.
He is a hugely impressive young man, and a very good footballer, too.
Born in the seaside town of Olhão on Portugal’s south coast, Fernandes joined local club Olhanense at the age of six, then moved hundreds of miles away from his family to join Sporting Lisbon’s Academy at the age of 13.
Having debuted for Sporting at 18, Fernandes joined nearby Estoril on loan at 19. His performances for the club in Portugal’s Primeira Liga saw English Premier League club Southampton move for him in the summer of 2024.
He quickly endeared himself at St Mary’s Stadium with his energetic midfield performances, determination and never-say-die attitude in a Southampton team that struggled and won the Saints’ Player of the Season award.
West Ham signed Fernandes, who is also captain of Portugal’s U21 side, in August this year. He is now determined to show the Claret and Blue Army exactly why he has been so highly thought of throughout his young career.
Mateus, you have been with West Ham United for two months now, so how are you settling into life at a new club in a new city?
“It's very nice living in London. It's completely different living in London than living in Southampton. It's more busy, more people, but we have more things to do. After the games we can go out with my family, I can go out with my girlfriend to breathe something. It's nice, it's a beautiful city. I love to live here and obviously I love the Club as well.”
Why do you love being a West Ham player?
“In the first game I played against Nottingham Forest, I think we did very well. We won 3-0, so it was a fantastic debut for me. I feel the atmosphere even in our stadium was very nice. But it's football, we need to win for the fans to show more love for us as well. We work hard for that. Like I said, it's football. One day you win, you are the best. If you lose, you are not the best anymore. It's football, you need to know. We work hard for that and I hope we can win the games.”
You can do everything in midfield, so how do you balance the need and desire to attack with your defensive responsibilities, and how is the Head Coach helping you?
“Nuno [Espírito Santo] is very important for me. He supports me so he can help more. To be honest, the last games I played, I didn't play well and he spoke with me about this. I understood. It's football. If you're not good, if you don't play well, you go to the bench, you need to show in the training, in the games, you want to play. We need to work hard for that, for the position. It's clear we have the ideas for the team, but it's more about confidence, it's about trusting our teammates, because we have a lot of quality in the squad, but like I said, in the Premier League the quality is not enough. We need to work hard, we need to work more and we need to be more clinical.”
Why do you think you weren’t showing your best?
“It's about losing many games and the confidence is not too high, but it's football. Last season for me was a very important season, because in Portugal I won many games. Every week I was winning and last season I was losing every week. For me it was important because you need to think about the positive things, like ‘how many guys in Portugal want to play in the Premier League?’ or ‘how many guys play in the Premier League?’, so I’m a lucky guy and I want to show my quality. This is the point - you need to see only the good things. If not you go down and you can't play well.”
You showed a positive reaction and scored your first goal for the Club at Leeds?
“I was very happy, it was my first ever headed goal as well. It doesn't mean a lot because we were losing, so after the goal I was thinking we can score again and we need to score again. But it's one more step, I watched the game, I missed a few passes as well, so I need to do this balance. OK, I scored a goal, but I need to work on this as well. It's about getting confidence and doing easy things to win the games, because it's more important to win the games, to get the points.”
As a team as a whole, what do you need to improve?
“I think it's the small things, like the set-pieces and the second balls. We need to grow on this point. We are playing against tough players as well, we are playing against big teams as well, so it's not about quality, it's about who wants more. It's football, sometimes you score, sometimes you miss. It's about the small things, and we need to think, like I said, it's about one game, the next game you can win, you get three points and we go again. It's about the moment. It's football, we need to think about these small things and try to do it.”
You face Newcastle United next on Sunday, so what are your thoughts on the next game?
“It will be tough. Every game in the Premier League is tough, we already know that. But, like I said, we need to look for our team, where we can go with the ball, where is the space, set-pieces. We need to work more on this point. It's about this. I think we have quality, but we need to show more and try to stick together.
“We need to stick together until the end, because we are a team. We are the only Club, the players, the manager, the fans. If not, it's going to be tough, because if you're going to say it's your fault, it's not my fault, it's not the right way.”
To end the interview on a lighter note, what music do you listen to as you prepare for a match?
“I like to put on music from my home, Portuguese music. I have a few rappers I like to listen to - Guga, Kyan and Plutónio.”
