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."
