Edson Alvarez jets into London Tuesday morning for West Ham medical ahead of quick transfer completion – Fabrizio Romano
Edson Alvarez is flying into London Tuesday morning for his medical and “will become” a “new West Ham player” later the same day, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The transfer specialist reported via Twitter late on Monday night (7 August) that the Mexican international would be flying the following morning for tests which are “already booked” and his deal worth up to £35million would be done by “Tuesday night”.
The Hammers are finally closing in on the 25-year-old Ajax midfielder as their first signing of the whole window, after extensive struggles in the transfer market.
The Eredivisie winner was interesting Chelsea but is instead set to become part of the succession from former captain Declan Rice after his £105m exit to Arsenal.
Can’t come soon enough
West Ham do deserve a little bit of credit for bringing in a player who does look like he could be a high-quality Premier League player.
Most of the positives are outweighed by how long it has taken to get to this point however, and with Gianluca Scamacca and Manuel Lanzini also needing to be replaced the squad is still set to start the new season weaker than it finished the last, before any hopes of actually strengthening come into play.
Tim Steidten looks like he has been backed in the Alvarez pursuit, with the German technical director arriving last month with a list of highly-rated developing European targets that didn’t mesh with David Moyes’ plans.
The club seems to be trying to appease both men to help avoid destabilising exits as the ongoing pursuits of Manchester United duo Harry Maguire and Scott McTominay that saw another pair of £30m bids sent to Old Trafford on Monday falling very much into the manager’s proven Premier League operator department.
Alvarez and any other new signings that West Ham do get over the line before 1 September will all now be integrating on the fly after delays to the club’s transfer business ran all the way through preseason.
Completing business late a year ago didn’t translate into success in the Premier League, so Moyes is going to have to find a way to avoid the same or he likely won’t survive with his job in tact a second time around.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers are still looking to beat a top flight rival to pick up a Chelsea player who has impressed in recent weeks.