Edson Alvarez is the upgrade West Ham fans want on Tomas Soucek
Edson Alvarez could be a new West Ham player this summer and he would represent an ideal replacement…but maybe not for the player you’re thinking of.
The Hammers are, of course, soon about to lose captain Declan Rice to Arsenal in a deal worth £105million.
David Ornstein reported on Friday (14 July) that David Moyes is planning to reinvest some of the cash in Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez, with the Dutch giants wanting between £30-40m for the Mexican.
David Moyes admitted that West Ham cannot necessarily replace Rice like-for-like, and there is a feeling he will sign more than one player in the engine room this summer with Denis Zakaria and James Ward-Prowse having been both heavily linked.
But Alvarez, you feel, represents not a replacement for Rice but potentially for Tomas Soucek – a man who seems to split opinion among the West Ham fanbase on social media.
What feels sure is that you wouldn’t really want to see Soucek and Alvarez in the same midfield, because their roles would be too similar to one another.
In stats provided by FBREF, Alvarez had a higher pass completion rate (88.7 per cent to 71.3) than Soucek last season and was involved in more shot-creating actions per 90 minutes (2.02 to 1.66).
While he attempted fewer tackles than Soucek, he did win more (40 to 37).
It suggests that Alvarez would be a better option for West Ham when receiving the ball deep and keeping possession ticking over, and would be equally adept at winning the ball back.
More work will be needed to replace Rice (if you can even replace a player of his quality), but in Alvarez Hammers fans may have a more reliable option in the centre of the park than Soucek.
In other West Ham news, Arsenal want to sign Declan Rice in the next 24 hours amid US deadline.