An embarrassment of riches is probably not how Nuno would describe his squad depth but compared with his competitors in the Championship, Nuno’s West Ham United have options galore in midfield.
Which is why Edson Alvarez can’t get a look in. Ahead of him in the West Ham United pecking order lie Mukasa and Engles, Soucek, Orford and Mohamadou Kanté, according to the 4thofficial.net– (who actually forgot to mention Soungoutou Magassa..) and it is this, rather than a serious fall-out with Nuno which is holding Alvarez back from game time in the Championship.
Edson Alvarez’ protracted exit saga looks like it is nearing a conclusion
And it is this that will likely force him away in January: The same report claims his agent has already held ‘secret’ talks regarding his departure in two months’ time:
“According to AS, Edson Alvarez’s agent Tarek Sebiat sat down with Valencia sporting director Braulio Vazquez. The topic was a January move for a midfielder who stayed put while Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes left in the summer.”
Cue massive relief all round, I should think. Nuno quite obviously doesn’t have plans for him and the Mexican can’t get a place within a match day squad for love nor money.
“Alvarez isn’t a bad player. Far from it. He’s a bruising ball-winner who played Champions League football at Ajax and has 103 caps for Mexico, plus World Cup minutes. Premier League, 59 games. Champions League, 23. Europa League, 21. Yet the queue ahead of him keeps growing. Mohamedou Kante and Lewis Orford have impressed, Arne Engels and Divine Mukasa arrived in the summer, and Tomas Soucek is fit again and scoring.”
Considering Alvarez almost headed off to Olympiacos in the summer but West Ham wouldn’t take the reported €10 million on offer, I’m sure there’s a deal to be done simply to get Edson’s salary off the books.
Cue big sighs of relief all round in eight weeks time when the now unwanted, one – time much heralded ‘Declan Rice replacement‘ (huh) is finally out of the door.
It’s a shame about him and Magassa both are very good players, Magassa has a lot of potential as a CDM but seems he is also persona non grata.
Nuno is imho a poor man manager, we should be pushing for Eddie Howe who is head and shoulders better than Nuno.