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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Nizaar Kinsella

Former Chelsea target Edson Alvarez responds to West Ham debut win against club which tried to sign him

Edson Alvarez saw the irony in making a winning start to his West Ham career against Chelsea, the club which tried to sign him a year before his move to east London.

The £35.4million signing from Ajax helped secure victory with an appearance in the last 15 minutes on Sunday, against a Chelsea team which had a £43m bid for him rejected last summer.

David Moyes had deemed the 25-year-old debutant “not ready” to start the 3-1 win having barely trained for a week due to a summer break which began late after being on Mexico duty until mid-July.

Having previously said he “grieved” his collapsed transfer to Chelsea, Alvarez is now happy to be in the Premier League with West Ham.

He said: “I came here to play in the best league in the world.

“It was funny [to make my debut versus Chelsea]. I always think everything happens for a reason. Sometimes we want things but then it is not in our hands.

“But look, now I am in a very good team and I am super happy. I am in a great dressing room with great players and people.”

Moyes had planned to give Alvarez a 30-minute runout but Nayef Aguerd's red card changed his plans.

Alvarez explained: “The plan was for me to come in for the last 30 minutes but after the red card everything changed.

“It was not bad because 15 minutes was okay for a start. The atmosphere was amazing. I wasn’t nervous but I felt a lot of adrenaline.

"The team showed a lot of character and the most important thing was getting three points."

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