Why West Ham may have Mateus Fernandes replacement amid exciting Connor Barron update

West Ham may replace Mateus Fernandes with Rangers star Connor Barron.

The Hammers sold the Portuguese midfielder to Tottenham in an £85m deal earlier this month.

Nuno Espirito Santo is now on the lookout for reinforcements in the centre of pitch, to make up for the 22-year-old's absence.

He may have found his man with Barron, who has been capped once for Scotland so far.

He has impressed north of the border in limited appearances for the Ibrox side, and could do a job in the Championship.

It is a link that makes sense given that former Rangers recruitment supremo Nils Koppen has recently joined the Irons.

What is the latest on West Ham's midfielder search?

The Hammers are understood to have identified the Scottish star as a replacement for Fernandes.

An exciting new update from Hayters TV on Friday claims that they are interested in signing the 23-year-old.

They are not along in their pursuit, though, as Italian side Bologna want him too.

It states that the Serie A outfit have made an approach for the former Aberdeen man, but the Light Blues do not want to sell.

How does Barron compare with Fernandes from a statistical standpoint?

Of course, the level of competition that they were playing in needs to be taken into account, but he compares well.

Data from Sofascore shows that Barron actually covered more ground, 10.9km to 10.3km and reached a higher sprint speed, 35.2km/h to 33.6km/h.

The Gers star completed 89 per cent of his passes in the league last season, while the former Hammers man only managed 87 per cent.

In terms of attacking threat, he created five big chances compared to just three for the now Tottenham man.

Defensively, Barron averaged 1.8 tackles, 3.4 balls recoveries and 1.1 clearances, compared to 2.9 tackles, 5.1 ball recoveries and one clearances for the Portuguese ace.

It appears by the base statistics, that the potential new London Stadium man would be better in possession, but worse without the ball.

Given the lower level, that is probably a trade-off that the E20 side can afford, but they would need him to improve if they achieved an immediate promotion.

For now, that is not a problem that Nuno's side have to worry about.