David Moyes reveals influential figures in West Ham deals for Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez from Ajax this summer
David Moyes has revealed his assistant manager Johnny Heitinga and his former Everton player Steven Pienaar were key in bringing Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez to West Ham over the summer.
The Hammers boss revealed it was Heitinga, who joined his backroom staff this summer, who recommended the two Ajax players as possible transfer deals in discussions before he arrived at the club.
Moyes also said he had a phone call with Pienaar, who he worked with at the Toffees and has also previously been at the Dutch giants, where he asked for his opinion on both players before making the decision to move for them.
Speaking to the Evening Standard on 29 September, Moyes revealed: “I met Johnny in the summer a couple of times before I brought him in. I’d had some meetings with him but I was also asking him about the Ajax players and what might be there.
“I was able to talk to Johnny about Edson and then Mo when he started to become a consideration. Steven Pienaar has been at Ajax as well and he was one of my ex-players so I phoned him about them too.”
Two important players this season
Both Alvarez and Kudus have shown already in their short time at the London Stadium that they can become key players in Moyes’ side both in the short and long-term future. Alvarez especially has made himself almost undroppable in his role at the base of midfield.
Kudus has taken slightly longer to settle in, largely because he arrived slightly later, and is slowly being eased into the first team. His recent performance against Backa Topola in the Europa League laid a marker down and showed his boss what he is capable of.
The two former Ajax men arrived at the London Stadium as part of a recruitment drive following the exit of Declan Rice, whose transfer raked in £105million for the Hammers to spend, and so far it’s safe to say they spent it well.
It will now be up to Kudus, Alvarez and other summer arrivals James Ward-Prowse and Konstantinos Mavropanos to prove they can turn in consistently good performances as West Ham look to compete for further silverware this season.
In other West Ham news, the club are competing with Europe’s elite in the chase for a Brazilian wonder.