1. Local links
Tlalnepantla de Baz can now boast that two of its local residents have gone on to represent West Ham United!
For Edson Álvarez is not the first player from the municipality in northern Mexico City to join the Hammers.
Ten years before the midfielder's birth in October 1997, in June 1987, another Mexico international was born in the area who would go on to play for West Ham in Pablo Barrera.
Winger Barrera joined the Irons in 2010 from Liga MX side Club Universidad Nacional and spent a solitary season in Claret and Blue. He would move to Real Zaragoza on loan for the 2011/12 campaign before completing a permanent transfer back to Mexico with Cruz Azul. Now 36, Barrera is still playing professionally for Liga MX club Querétaro.
2. A fourth Mexican Hammer
As mentioned, the 25-year-old is from the same area as another former Mexican international who also donned Claret and Blue in Pablo Barrera. And Álvarez is the fourth player from the Central American nation to join the Hammers.
The first was striker Guillermo Franco, who moved to West Ham from Spanish side Villarreal in 2009. The hard-working forward scored five goals in 23 Premier League appearances, before departing as a free agent and joining Primera División team Vélez Sársfield in January 2011.
Then came Barrera, before our list is completed by striker Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández, who moved to east London from Bayer Leverkusen in 2017, scoring 17 goals in 63 appearances.
When Álvarez makes his Premier League debut for the Irons, he will become only the eleventh Mexican player to feature in the English top tier.
3. An early release nearly halted his career
The statistics around young footballers who make it at a professional level are reasonably well-known, and Edson Álvarez almost became one of the majority when he was cut from the Pachuca youth set-up at 14-years-old.
Having reportedly been told his release was due to his ‘short stature’, a distraught Álvarez believed he had let his entire family down by being let go and seriously contemplated giving up on football entirely.
It took some convincing from his parents but finally, at 16, Álvarez agreed to attend a trial with Club América. Three months later, the young midfielder was offered a deal with the side.
Two years later, he earned his first call-up to the senior team before earning his debut as a 19-year-old a few weeks later. Now, at the age of 25, Álvarez has grown not only into a regular for his national team, but to the height of 6'2!
4. Introducing number... 282!
As mentioned, Edson Álvarez got his debut for Club América at 19, in October 2016, in a 3-1 win over Santos Laguna.
The teenager was outstanding, playing the entire 90 minutes, but it is his squad number that particularly catches the eye. West Ham’s newest acquisition wore the number 282!
The reason is actually quite simple. Liga MX forces all players to be given a permanent number at their club. This includes players from the reserve team and every single youth side playing in competitive games of any level.
So, for example, while Łukasz Fabiański wears the No1 shirt for West Ham United, the starting goalkeeper at U21s and U18s level is also permitted to wear the No1. In Mexican football, no one else at the club would be allowed to use that number.
Because of this rule, it has been common for players in Mexican club's second squads to wear three-digit shirt numbers that start with a two. Álvarez is far from the only player in Liga MX to wear a three-digit number, with Marcel Ruiz donning the '306' shirt for a match between Querétaro and Lobos BUAP in August 2018!
5. He's in Club van 100
Edson Álvarez joined Dutch giants Ajax on 2019 and has been a regular in the Amsterdam club's starting XI since his switch to the Eredivisie outfit, playing across league, cup and European fixtures.
Such was Álvarez’s regularity in the Ajax midfield and, on occasion, at the heart of defence, that the Mexico international secured his place on the Ajax 'Club van 100' list in April 2022.
The list is, simply put, comprised of players who have appeared in 100 or more official matches for Ajax in their career. With a showing in a 3-0 win over PEC Zwolle, Álvarez became the 174th player in Ajax history to be inducted. He is the very first Mexican to receive the accolade.
6. Head and shoulders above
While Edson Álvarez usually plays as a deep-sitting midfielder, and sometimes even in defence, the newest Hammer is not afraid to have a go at goal when the chance comes along.
Across his club career, for Club América and Ajax, the Mexican has scored 18 goals. Of those, nine of them have been headers by the 25-year-old.
His most prolific scoring season came in the 2021/22 campaign when he netted five goals in the Eredivisie. Of those five, four were scored with his head. At 6’2, Álvarez could prove to once again be in the threat, this time for the Irons.
7. A serial winner
One thing is for certain: Edson Álvarez has claimed plenty of silverware in his relatively young career.
At Club América he lifted two trophies, helping the team to the Liga MX Apertura in 2018 and the Clausura 2019 Copa MX.
Following his switch to Europe with Ajax, trophies continued to come Álvarez’s way. In the 2020/21 campaign, the midfielder played a crucial role in Ajax winning an Eredivisie title and KNVB Cup double, playing in 24 of the team's 34 league matches and all five cup fixtures.
Another league success would follow a year later, with Álvarez playing an even bigger role in the triumph; this time scoring five goals in 31 Eredivisie matches.
His efforts also translate to the Mexico national team, with Álvarez earning 69 caps since his debut in 2017. The midfielder was part of the squad that lifted the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2019, playing five of the six matches including the 1-0 win over the USA in the final, and was also a crucial cog in the Mexico side that once again won the tournament earlier this summer.
This time, Alvarez played in all six matches in the tournament as El Tri beat Panama 1-0 in the final and lifted the trophy for a record ninth time.
