25-yo proved yesterday he’s the glue that holds West Ham together, we’ll be lost without him
Edson Alvarez is the glue that holds West Ham together because of one very simple reason
West Ham United midfielder Edson Alvarez has already established himself as a vital player for the club, in what has been a very short period of time.
Edson Alvarez, who earns around £100k-a-week according to Capology, has made a huge impact already at the London Stadium, since joining West Ham from Ajax in the summer transfer window for around £34 million.
The 25-year-old was well-renowned for being an aggressive, ball-winning midfielder when he swapped Holland for England.
However, the Mexico international is clearly so much more than that, and he has endeared himself to the Hammers fans and David Moyes already.
The West Ham manager has been absolutely raving about Alvarez in the media recently. And it’s fair to say that we’ve actually improved as a team since Declan Rice left to join Arsenal.
With all of that in mind, it was a big concern when the former Ajax man left the pitch injured midway through the second-half yesterday. However, it seems as though that injury wasn’t serious, and that’s absolutely huge for us.
It could be argued that he is in fact our most important player…
West Ham are already hugely reliant on Edson Alvarez
The 25-year-old Mexican completely changes the way we play when he’s on the pitch. That became evident when he went off injured yesterday.
Alvarez’s composure in possession and ability to play out from the back makes him the glue that holds this team together.
When he went off yesterday, we were a completely different team with Tomas Soucek sitting in as a defensive midfielder. The Czech Republic international quite simply isn’t a DM.
Edson Alvarez sits in front of our back four and orchestrates everything we do from that deep-lying position. Since he came into the team it’s very much been a case of Declan who did same.
The Mexican not only provides a shield for our defenders but he is a brilliant passer of the football, and he is a very good leader as well as being a brilliant on-field communicator.
The former Ajax man is never in a rush when he receives the ball and that kind of composed nature rubs off on his teammates. It’s why we cannot afford to be without him for a prolonged period of time this season.
David Moyes will be fully aware of that. Two key lessons learned from yesterday as far as I’m concerned that a) Alvarez could be our most important player this season and b) Soucek cannot be used in place of the Mexican.
Let’s just hope that the 25-year-old remains fit for the entirety of the campaign because without him, I think we’ll struggle.
