By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
This one really does sting.
Reports suggest Ajax are hoping to re-sign Edson Álvarez for less than £10 million, despite selling the Mexican midfielder to West Ham for around £35 million just three years ago.
The Dutch club are reportedly facing competition from Real Sociedad for the 28-year-old, while Álvarez himself is said to be open to returning to Amsterdam.
A Painful Piece Of Business
When you stop and think about it, it makes for pretty painful reading.
West Ham still owe Ajax a sizeable amount of the original transfer fee, yet could now end up selling the player back to them for little more than a quarter of what they paid.
Álvarez enjoyed a successful spell at Ajax, winning two Eredivisie titles and the KNVB Cup before moving to east London in 2023.
He went on to make 73 appearances for the Hammers before spending last season on loan at Fenerbahçe, where he featured 18 times.
With West Ham now back in the Championship and looking to reduce the wage bill, a permanent exit appears increasingly likely.
The Rice Money Never Replaced Rice
The whole situation also brings back memories of the summer Declan Rice left for Arsenal.
David Moyes famously argued he needed two players to replace Rice’s all-round game, with Álvarez and James Ward-Prowse arriving for a combined fee of around £60 million.
It’s crazy to think that, only three years later, West Ham would probably do well to receive £15 million for the pair.
Sometimes transfer fees tell the story of a football club better than league tables ever could.
No way should we accept 10m for him . He is far better than that and would do a great job in the Championship. He was played out of position by inept managers and looked bad as he was one of several who were trying to cover the gaps and mistakes that epitomise any defence in which Kilman is selected. We will make a loss and also pay out to replace him … WHY ???
Moan moan moan
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if we sell him back to Ajax do you think the expectation would be that we’d still pay the sizeable amount of the original transfer fee that is outstanding Kris ? as depending on where you read this could still be up in region of £18 million ? x
Can’t see the surprise.
He’s a headless chicken and a yellow or red card liability.
Remember the Forest sending off ?
In the combative nature of the Championship he would miss more games than he would play.
I think we should keep him, if he is worth only 10million.
We could not get a replacement that cheap
This is not a loss…
His value was £35m when first signed, but it has amortised since then and he is worth a lot less than £35m on the books now. I could work it out it’s fairly easy to do but I can’t be bothered.
He has also been out on loan bringing in loan fees.
There will be no loss involved in his case almost certainly guaranteed.
It was a five year contract back in 2023. You are right, if there is a ‘loss’ it is going to be relatively small. If Bowen stays until the end of his career with the club using the loss methodology in this article we would ’lose’ his original fee of twenty two million.
If we bought him in Aug 23 for around £35m on a 5 year deal his book value to the club will drop by 7m per year, so he’s now on the books as worth around £14m. If Ajax are starting around 10m hopefully the club can get closer to the 14m figure after negotiation.
That said, he looks decent at CB for Mexico and we definitely need more quality there if he can be re-integrated into the playing group. My concern would be Nuno seeing him as a natural in a back 3 (shudder). A £5m loss is less worrying than a back 3 every day!
Exactly!
So a nonsense headline….
As he’s on about four million a year in salary letting him go for ten balances itself out in the financial year.
Any good news? 😒
Don’t understand why we are offloading him on the cheap. He was brilliant in his first season with us. Tell him he’s staying for 1 year. He’d be an asset in our weak midfield and probably look good in this division and inevitably increase his value.
Why would we sell him? he has just played in a very good Mexican team- we are not exactly flush with players- keep him, get promoted and by default his value goes up. He would be on half wages- we have already sold – what are we going to buy for 10m to replace him?? He acts as cover at CB, can do a job and think with a little more time on the ball in Championship he is worth keeping. I’d much rather sell JWP who just slows everything down – we need a bit of bite in this league
100% behind you on this one Simon.