Edson Alvarez drops easy-to-miss West Ham hint ahead of Southampton

Edson Alvarez may be about to re-enter the first-team frame at West Ham United.

The 28-year-old was widely rumoured to be leaving the London Stadium during the summer window.

He'd endured a mixed bag during his loan spell with Fenerbahce last season.

A 103-cap Mexican international, the defensive midfielder has never played outside of the top division in any country he's plied his trade in.

No exit materialised for him over the summer, and since then he's largely been shunned by Nuno Espirito Santo.

However, that could be about to change after West Ham's number four makes an eyebrow-raising social media post.

What West Ham hint did Edson Alvarez post to his Instagram?

Alvarez hasn't been injured over the last couple of months, instead, he's just been frozen out by Nuno.

Indeed, his lone appearance of the season remains the 75 minutes he got against Portsmouth in the Carabao Cup on 8 August.

He's not even been involved in a matchday squad in any capacity since then, as he slides towards forgotten man status in E20.

West Ham take on Southampton in the Championship on Saturday, and many Hammers fans will have been presuming Alvarez wouldn't be involved once again.

But Wednesday night saw the Mexican post something very interesting on his Instagram story that may have those fans changing their minds.

Alvarez posted a picture of himself and Jarrod Bowen in training, but that wasn't where the hint of his possible return lies.

Instead, that's located in the song choice he used alongside the post, which was 'Comeback Kid' by Kasabian.

So, whose spot in the West Ham matchday squad from the win over Swansea last time out could Alvarez take?

West Ham midfielder will be sweating over his place now

It's highly unlikely that Alvarez would come straight into the starting lineup against Southampton after such a lengthy exile.

Therefore, if he's to come back into the Hammers squad, it's surely going to come via the bench on Saturday.

Looking at those who comprised West Ham's bench against Swansea, there is one clear candidate for the chop in place of Alvarez.

Lewis Orford hasn't found his place in Nuno's side this season, having started just one of his eight Championship appearances in 2026-27.

Edvin Austbo, Taty Castellanos, Joel Piroe, Alphonse Areola, Kyle Walker-Peters and Tomas Soucek all won't be axed.

That just leaves Orford, Airidas Golambeckis and Ollie Scarles from the Swansea bench, so it's surely between one of these three.