Edson Alvarez at Manchester United – dies

I followed up on this story which was discussed by Gonzo on Thursday’s C and H and updated by Simon today. Aside from the hole he would leave in our midfield, Alvarez is the kind of no-nonsense, serious player we need to see more of if we are to reduce our horrendous goal-scoring run into 2024/25. So the prospect of him being the subject of a bid from Manchester United certainly caught my eye.

It looks like the Red Devils have more or less decided they need an upgrade for Brazilian midfielder Casemiro, who was missing last season. He initially looked an excellent performer and quickly landed an improved five-year, £350,000-a-week deal. Last season, however, he was well off the pace and it looked like the years had caught up with him, hence Erik ten Hag’s desire to look for an upgrade. It seemed that Casemiro had read the writing on the wall and was planning to move for one last payday in Saudi Arabia.

Our Mexican ‘machine’ was apparently going to be Ten Hag’s target as a preferred replacement: Who can blame Manchester United for targeting Alvarez: His attitude was almost as impressive as his serious and determined performances on the pitch ( just do” I don’t mention yellow cards).

However, in the last few hours it seems that there have been interesting developments that have put a different spin on this aspect. On his X page (twitter), Sport 1 journalist Christopher Michel (@Cmoffizell) told his 23,000 followers that “the transfer of Casemiro to Saudi Arabia fell through a few days ago – therefore Edson Alvarez from West Ham is not currently a hot topic.”

Whether or not this was in response to West Ham’s statement that Alvarez was not for sale – see Simon’s previous post – let’s hope this is a transfer that ‘falls through’ so our Mexican midfielder stays at the stadium from London, racking up yellow cards and suspensions for us for the next few seasons!