West Ham boss David Moyes has admitted he turned down the chance to sign World Cup winner Julian Alvarez three years ago.
Alvarez starred for Argentina as they won the tournament for the first time since 1986 last month, scoring twice in their semi-final win over Croatia. The striker joined Manchester City ahead of this season after coming through the ranks at River Plate.
However, the frontman – who was part of the Argentina side that won the recent World Cup in Qatar – could have instead been playing for Premier League rivals West Ham, with Moyes claiming that he had the chance to bring Alvarez to the Hammers before the player joined Pep Guardiola’s side.
When asked about players he has missed out on, or chosen not to sign, during his managerial career, the Scotsman admitted that he was a fan of Alvarez, but that he ultimately opted against bringing him to the London Stadium.
“I think it’s the ones I’ve missed, the ones where you say ‘Nah, I don’t think he’s quite good enough, I don’t think I want him’. And I’ve had hundreds of them,” Moyes told the Diary of a CEO podcast.
“Just recently, because we’ve been talking about it, Alvarez who has just played for Argentina in the World Cup, I bought in a new scout who says ‘Look, you should go for Alvarez at River Plate’.
“I watched him and I thought he was a very good, really good technician and I thought he done so many good things as a centre forward but I thought maybe not quite the one we want, we had Micky Antonio who had been doing very well and I thought I don’t know.
“You see sometimes the players change in six months but I have to say there are other players like that who you don’t take and don’t go on to be a real success, but that one at the moment is just one where probably because it was only a year ago where I decided ‘Nah, he’s not one I’m going to take’.”
Since his arrival at the Etihad Stadium, the 22-year-old has impressed for City, mainly playing a role off the bench. He has registered eight goals and two assists in 23 appearances.
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