David Sullivan is back in charge of West Ham transfers and there have been some bib developments both in and out after talks with Chelsea.
West Ham are in negotiations over a number of deals in the January transfer window.
The Hammers are being linked with no fewer than three Chelsea players who Enzo Maresca has made it clear can leave.
A striker is the absolute top priority without any doubt for West Ham.
It could be argued the same applies for Chelsea, who have just started to stutter of late with goalscoring becoming an issue.
Close behind in terms of priorities for the Hammers is strengthening midfield.
West Ham are slow and immobile in the middle of the park. The Irons’ midfield offers little protection to the back four and very little by way of guile and service to the forward line.
West Ham have been linked with a number of Chelsea players including Axel Disasi, Ben Chilwell and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Now ironically West Ham offloading a player they signed after his move to Chelsea collapsed could be key to sealing one of them.
After a decent start to life replacing Declan Rice at West Ham, Edson Alvarez was woeful throughout 2024.
New bid for West Ham’s worst performer
His below-par performances have exposed him as something of a faux hard man.
Alvarez was guilty of one of the most cowardly withdrawals from a must-win header you will ever see from a West Ham player in the recent 4-1 defeat to Man City, which cost Julen Lopetegui his job.
The Mexican arrived at West Ham with a tough-guy reputation he very much leans into.
Nicknamed El Machin – ‘the machine’ – Alvarez revealed he was ‘one hour away’ from joining Chelsea the summer before he arrived at West Ham.
But Ajax changed their mind on the sale at the last minute after suffering an injury. Since then Chelsea have signed some of the top young defensive midfielders around in Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.
Alvarez was a fan favourite at West Ham. But his woeful form has seen many fans change their opinion.
The 27-year-old has also consistently talked up leaving West Ham.
Pulling out of that header at Man City damaged his reputation massively among Hammers fans.
He followed that up with another poor performance in Graham Potter’s first game in charge against Villa on Friday night.
Monaco have been showing interest in Alvarez and made a loan offer over the weekend.
West Ham reportedly rejected that approach.
Now a new bid has been made for West Ham’s worst performer as David Sullivan closes in on Chelsea deal.
Sullivan closes on Chelsea deal
Monaco have not been deterred by West Ham rejecting their initial move.
Now the French Principality club have returned with a new proposal according to The Daily Mail.
The report states ‘it remains to be seen whether West Ham will be willing to entertain the second offer’.
Lines of communication are already established between West Ham and Monaco after the deal which took Thilo Kehrer back to France.
Monaco are third in Ligue 1 and on course to make the Champions League knockout rounds.
Sullivan now faces a big decision on letting Alvarez go as sources claim progress is being made on a deal with Chelsea for Dewsbury-Hall.
West Ham – and allegedly Potter too – are said to be long-term admirers of Dewsbury-Hall.
Alvarez out is no brainer if it means Dewsbury-Hall and striker in
Indeed the Hammers held an interest before his move to Chelsea. The Blues paid £30m for the Leicester star, blowing West Ham and others out of the water.
He has been made available by Maresca after failing to establish himself at Stamford Bridge.
Hammers News understands from an agent source close to the situation that West Ham are growing increasingly confident of signing Dewsbury-Hall on loan.
But crucially it would include an option to buy should the energetic box-to-box midfielder prove a success.
If signing Dewsbury-Hall and or a striker hinges on West Ham offloading Alvarez then there really is no decision for Sullivan to make.
The Hammers chief must ship the Mexican out in order to bring some much needed energy into the team.
Related Topics
