West Ham United finally take crucial steps to sign Edson Alvarez as transfer news emerge
West Ham have finally taken crucial steps in the market this summer to replace Declan Rice after reportedly agreeing personal terms with Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez.
According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano (Twitter, 4 August), the Hammers have agreed on personal terms with the Mexican international with negotiations between the two clubs set to follow into the weekend to find an agreement on the price.
The Hammers have been identifying several targets to replace the £105m Rice, with Alvarez, Fulham’s Joao Palhinha, Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse and Juventus’s Denis Zakaria all emerging as David Moyes’ top targets this summer.
After the England international officially joined Arsenal on 15 July, many West Ham United fans will have been forgiven to expect the club to have already lined up a perfect replacement.
However, the Irons have moved rather slowly and indecisive so far, haggling on fees to sign the likes of Palhinha, Ward-Prose and Zakaria.
Such lack of efficiency in the market has certainly led to friction amongst the club leadership with tensions appearing between David Moyes and Tim Steidten (The Guardian, 29 July).
Certainly, the fact that the Irons have money burning in their transfer warchest will have led clubs to inflate prices for several of their targets, but that wasn’t to be the case for a player who has been waiting to be snapped up for a long while now.
Alvarez always seemed the more attainable and attractive low-cost option to pursue, with Ajax demanding around just £35m – £40m according to a report from The Athletic journalist David Ornstein (4 July), for a full-scale Mexican international and European midfield powerhouse.
And the Hammers have finally realised how crucial and promising Alvarez could become not only for Moyes’ plans to replace Rice but to finally kickstart their indecisive summer.
Guardian journalist Jacob Steinberg reported on 4 August that the Hammers are hoping to seal Alvarez’ signing over the next few days, and that has been further reported by Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg, taking to his personal Twitter account (5 August) to claim that Alvarez has decided to join the Hammers, with Moyes finally coming to an agreement with Steidten’s top midfield target.
It’s taken a long time for West Ham to come to this point in their Rice replacement search, and an extensive timeline could well have been drawn up over the Hammers’ frustrating moves in the market, but it certainly seems as if they’ve finally identified the ideal cost-effective solution in a player ready to take the Premier League by storm.
As per FBRef, over the past year and within Europe’s top-five leagues, Alvarez impressively ranks in the 91st percentile for progressive passes, 93rd for progressive carries and ranked fourth in the Eredivisie last season for the number of dribbles tackled (44) showcasing his destructive and influential qualities in midfield.
At 25 years of age, with great international and European experience, the Mexican midfield machine wouldn’t need any considerable time to adjust to the rigours and pace of the English top flight and possesses the qualities to be a true enforcer in front of the West Ham United defence.
This is potentially superb business from West Ham, at long long last.
In other West Ham news, one wantaway attacker is now closing on a move to an Italian club, as David Sullivan demands around £10m to sell.