Edson Alvarez set to join West Ham United highest earners as contract details emerge on £32m Ajax transfer
Edson Alvarez will be paid around £140,000-a-week at West Ham on the five-year contract he has agreed with the club, according to The Times.
The newspaper reported on their website Monday (7 August) that the Hammers are finally about to make their first signing of the summer, after reaching a £32million deal for the Ajax midfielder.
He is currently on holiday in his native Mexico but is now set to fly in for a medical this week as the Irons look to replace former captain Declan Rice following his £105m move to Arsenal.
Alvarez’s new West Ham contract will make him one of the club’s highest earners, with club-record signing Lucas Paqueta currently paid the most at the London Stadium after signing a deal for £150,000-a-week when he arrived from Lyon last summer [90min].
At last
It never should have reached the final week before the Premier League season gets underway for West Ham to finally start to replace Rice.
The Alvarez move looks set but supporters may even be unconvinced of that until it is officially announced, having seen a deal for Manchester City’s Carlos Borges hijacked at the last, by Ajax of all clubs.
With an unwillingness to match the Portuguese youngster’s wage demands thought to have been a factor in that deal collapsing, a year after getting to the final hurdle for now-Everton midfielder Amadou Onana before similarly balking and seeing the work go to waste, it looks a positive that the Irons have put a strong contract offer to Alvarez and he has accepted.
David Moyes is famously cautious with the club’s money, which in many ways is a good thing with sides up and down the country surging into huge amounts of debt.
But on the Mexican international it looks like technical director Tim Steidten has got his way, with the 25-year-old having not played in the Premier League before when English experience is something the manager is prioritising amid his dispute on targets with the German.
However, 69 caps for his country and multiple Eredivisie titles suggest he could be a very strong signing, especially ahead of Chelsea who have maintained interest since almost signing him a year ago.
In other West Ham news, a prime Moyes transfer target has been “insulted” by the club’s actions in pursuing him.