Under-pressure 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.
But long before he was spotted by City's recruitment team, a newly-hired scout at West Ham recommended him to Hammers boss Moyes. Despite that recommendation though, Moyes has revealed he opted against making a move for the striker.
"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.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should West Ham sack David Moyes? Comment below.
"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'.”
While Moyes felt that Antonio would be able to fulfil West Ham's needs up-front, he has struggled this season. Antonio has scored just two goals in the Premier League this term, with the Hammers becoming sucked into a relegation battle.
They did spend £40million to boost their options up-front with the signing of Gianluca Scamacca in the summer. But the Italian has scored just three times for his new club.
Alvarez meanwhile has impressed for City, mainly playing a role off the bench, as well as winning a World Cup. And his performance at that tournament left City boss Pep Guardiola delighted.
“We are incredibly happy for him [Alvarez] – congrats to him, for Otamendi, of course, personally for Lionel Messi and Argentina as a country; a well-deserved champion,” Guardiola said after Argentina lifted the trophy.
“For Julian, we are delighted because he played a lot and his contribution was amazing for the team, for the way they played. We have a world champion in our team.”
The admission that he decided to turn down the chance to sign Alvarez could create more issues for Moyes. The Scot is battling to save his job, with his side currently sitting third bottom of the Premier League.
