The East Londoners had been on a slippery slope the season before under Julen Lopetegui, and Graham Potter's appointment did nothing to reverse the slide.
West Ham's worst start to a season in 52 years
When Nuno Espirito Santo took over, he began his tenure with three successive defeats in what was the Hammers' worst start to a season in 52 years.
It was always going to be an uphill struggle from that point, and not even a handful of new signings in January could arrest the slide.
Once relegation was confirmed, it was obvious that players were going to have to be sold this summer in order to balance the books and save money.
What a shame, then, that one of West Ham's success stories this season, Mateus Fernandes, is likely to be first out of the London Stadium exit.
Stunning pass completion stats from Fernandes
Signed in August 2025, the 21-year-old did more than most to try and keep his side in the English top-flight for another season.
His four assists put him behind only Jarrod Bowen in the entire squad, whilst his three goals were just a few less than Taty Castellanos, Callum Wilson and Crysencio Summerville, all three of whom play a lot further forward than the central midfielder.
No one came close to his total of 1,707 passes (El Hadji Malick Diouf's 1,134 was the next best), nor were they anywhere near his completed pass total of 1,496.
As a result, his sensational pass accuracy of 87.64% was comfortably the best in the West Ham squad.
Third-best shot conversion rate
Only Diouf and Aaron Wan-Bissaka bettered his cross completion percentage of 26.15%, and given that both full-backs had consistently raided down opposite sides of the pitch throughout 2025/26, in order to get themselves in those crossing positions, the fact that Fernandes was only slightly off their showings is testament to how well the Portuguese got about the pitch himself.
The midfielder also created 35 chances in all competitions across the last campaign, with Bowen's 39 edging him by a whisker in this regard, whilst Diouf was the only other player to make 30 or more.
In terms of Fernandes' shot accuracy of 50%, he can be pleased that he was level with Summerville and in the top six players in the squad for this metric.
His conversion rate of 22.22% placed him just behind Lucas Paqueta and Callum Wilson, two players who, once again, would be expected to be giving the team more in attack than their colleague.
Physically imposing
It is perhaps in the more physical aspects of the game where the player has shone the most, however.
193 ball recoveries were more than any teammate, and though Bowen's 476 one-on-one duels attempted were significantly more than Fernandes' 384, the midfielder's duel success percentage of 55.73% was well in excess of the striker's 43.07%.
The Portuguese also excelled in terms of his tackling, with 112 attempted during the course of the season, more than double that of any teammate.
73 tackles won was comfortably the best return in the squad, too, with Kyle Walker-Peters' 38 successful tackles the second-best showing.
A 65.18% tackle success rate for Fernandes actually saw him placed behind Axel Disasi (68.75%); however, the defender made only 16 tackles in total, winning 11, so his contribution can't really be compared.
Real Madrid ready to battle Man Utd and PSG
It's with that all-round excellence in mind that Real Madrid is the latest team to throw their hat into the ring for the player's services.
According to reports, Los Blancos have made contact with the player and his entourage, though Man Utd are keen to conclude a deal with Fernandes before he has his head turned by the Spanish giants and another interested party, Paris Saint-Germain.
Real might consider that they have an edge in potential negotiations, of course, given that countryman Jose Mourinho is back in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Even if West Ham know that they will soon have to admit defeat in their attempts to hold onto their man, they can at least be consoled by the fact that they could bring as much as £80m into club coffers - significantly more than they paid for Fernandes a year ago.
With Daniel Kretinsky now the club's major shareholder after the departure of David Sullivan, one thing is clear... West Ham can't waste any proceeds in the same way as they did with the Declan Rice money if they want to get back into the Premier League at the first attempt.
Jason Pettigrove has been the features writer for Flashscore since 2025, utilising Opta data to form the basis of his articles. He has previously worked for high profile football clubs, news and media outlets, both in print and digital, and can usually be found watching FC Barcelona when time permits. You can read more of his pieces here.
