For all the great and good David Moyes did for West Ham, there is no hiding the fact he dropped some real clangers too – and his biggest ever may end up costing his old club a whopping £140m.
David Moyes saved West Ham United from relegation twice.
The Scot managed the Hammers to their record ever Premier League points total and goal difference as well as three consecutive seasons in Europe for the first time in West Ham history.
Moyes’ crowning achievement was undoubtedly winning the club’s first major trophy for 43 years when the Hammers lifted the Europa Conference League three years ago.
Moyes was brilliant but he may cost West Ham £140m
Moyes was also responsible for superb signings like Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen, two of the club’s best and most consistent players of the modern era.
But he is not nicknamed ‘Dithering Dave’ by Man United, Everton and West Ham fans for no reason.
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The Toffees boss is known for being a real stickler when it comes to making signings.
Moyes likes to watch players live himself and on several occasions before making a decision.
In the modern transfer market that is not always practical or efficient given the dearth of talent and fierce competition to get them.
Every manager has tales of the ones who got away.
But none more jaw-dropping and agonising than a star the Scot snubbed for West Ham four years ago in 2022 – a decision which may end up costing the Hammers a whopping £140m.
Back then West Ham were heavily linked with a move for exciting emerging striker talent Julian Alvarez – as reported at the time by El Intrasigente.
Moyes admitted £14.5m Alvarez snub – now he could be sold for 10 times that
Hammers News also declared at the time that then River Plate striker Alvarez would be the ideal signing for West Ham.
Moyes did not agree, though, much to the chagrin of West Ham.
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While Moyes dragged his heels, Alvarez was snapped up by Man City instead for just £14m. He remained on loan with River Plate before arriving at the Etihad the following summer.
Don’t take our word for it, Moyes made the jaw-dropping admission about his Alvarez snub at West Ham, inexplicably stating he turned the Argentine star down ‘because he had Michail Antonio’. Yes you did just read that correctly.
Moyes has already cost the Hammers the shot at an £80m bounty, the amount Atletico Madrid paid Man City for his services.
Now Real Madrid and Barcelona are locked in a battle to sign the forward Moyes snubbed for a staggering £140m.
Atletico are playing hard-ball over any deal, meaning that price could rise even further yet. Especially if Alvarez has a good World Cup.
Especially as Alvarez has become the poster boy of rival presidential campaigns at both Spanish giants.
‘I thought he’s maybe not quite the one we want’ – Moyes on snubbing Alvarez at West Ham
“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’ve had hundreds of them,” Moyes told the Diary of a CEO podcast previously.
“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 technician and done so many good things as a centre forward but I thought [he’s] 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’.”
Moyes did a fantastic job in east London and will forever be fondly remembered and rightly so.
But talk about a sliding doors moment.
And how West Ham could do with £140m from one player right now. For context that is 10 times the amount the Hammers would have got him for had Moyes said yes to the deal.
Although had Moyes signed Alvarez they probably wouldn’t find themselves on their current downward trajectory.
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