The Hammers have their eyes on the’monster’ midfielder from Ajax as a replacement for Declan Rice, who is departing in the summer.
Wednesday night’s exciting victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final marked the end of West Ham United’s 43-year trophy drought.
But following the game, club president David Sullivan declared that Declan Rice has permission to leave in the summer. Arsenal has been mentioned as the player’s expected destination up to this point and has been for months.
According to dependable journalist Matt Law of the Telegraph, The Hammers would try to use the extra money from that transaction to pay for a number of summer moves, with Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez being one of their top objectives.
What’s the latest on Edson Alvarez?
The versatile machine has shot to the top of the Irons’ wishlist this summer, but bringing him to the London Stadium might prove challenging.West Ham will have to act quickly if they’re keen on the player as, according to 90min, Borussia Dortmund are ‘confident’ that they will sign the player this summer.
With no official bids yet, we can only speculate that the money needed to secure Alvarez’s signature will be close to the £43m offered by Chelsea last September, whilst FootballTransfers currently estimates his worth to be around £25m.
Would Edson Alvarez be a good signing for West Ham?
By all metrics, the Tlalnepantla-born “monster”, as dubbed by The Athletic’s Felipe Cardenas, looks like he would be an excellent signing for the Hammers. According to WhoScored, Alvarez has averaged a seriously impressive rating of 7.34 across 31 Eredivisie appearances this season.
The underlying numbers also paint the picture of an all-action defensive midfielder.
As per FBref, who have compared players in a similar position across their ‘next 8 competitions’, he sits in the top 1% for passes attempted, clearances, and aerials duals won per 90. Alvarez also ranks in the top 5% for pass completion, 6% for shots, progressive carries, no. of touches in the opposition’s penalty area, and 9% for progressive passes per 90 ,
Another facet of the Mexican’s game that could prove invaluable to the Hammers is his positional versatility.
Across the last 50 matches, the Ajax man has played as a central midfielder 23 times, a defensive midfielder 15 times and a central defender 12 times. This ability to fulfil several roles across the pitch and fulfil them capably would be a huge benefit to David Moyes’ team.
Whoever the club sign in the summer, it is unlikely that they will be able to replace Rice on their own, but Alvarez certainly looks like he could get close.
