West Ham United: Edson Alvarez was ‘one hour away’ from signing for Chelsea
Edson Alvarez has revealed he was “one hour away” from joining Chelsea from Ajax before a deal collapsed and he instead joined West Ham.
Speaking to the Mexican press (19 March), Alvarez revealed that in the third year of his time in Amsterdam a deal was in place for him to move to London, before the Dutch giants pulled the plug on a transfer at the last minute.
Alvarez ended up staying at the club and moving to West Ham the following summer after they beat off competition from Borussia Dortmund, and the midfielder has now discussed how a move to Chelsea fell through.
“Actually, in year three (at Ajax), I had to go to Chelsea, the plane was waiting for me at the airport,” he said.
“When Ajax told me you know what: ‘you’re not going’. Whether people believe or not believe, it doesn’t matter exactly the same to me, I am the one who is here and the one who is living it.
“I was an hour away from getting on the plane and going to sign for Chelsea and the Ajax told me: ‘you’re not leaving.’ And since you don’t leave, what do you do? There’s no way you’re leaving.”
Chelsea’s loss is West Ham United’s gain
Chelsea have spent an small nation’s budget in recent transfer windows, but they have struggled to build their squad and their loss has been West Ham’s gain.
The Hammers capitalised on their struggles in the transfer window by bringing in Mohammed Kudus with a quick-fire deal from Ajax, and they made the most out of the fact Alvarez was still available too.
Those two players have been key in replacing Declan Rice and Gianluca Scamacca in the summer, and their performances are a huge reason as to why the club are in the quarter-finals of a European competition for a third consecutive season and are also competing for a place in Europe for next season.
Bringing in a combative midfielder with top level experience has helped the team to grow and become more consistent, and Alvarez was clearly the biggest and best option for the club.
Chelsea’s failure to close the deal has worked out to be to the benefit of the Hammers, and now everyone is happy with how this scenario played out.
In other West Ham news, Hammers ace has the perfect chance to wave goodbye to the club this summer.
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