West Ham snubbed chance to sign World Cup winner Alvarez ahead of Man City

• Argentine caught the eye at River Plate
• Moved to Manchester in 2022
• Could have ended up in east London

WHAT HAPPENED? The Hammers were nudged in the Argentina international’s direction while he was still making a name for himself as a hot prospect at River Plate, but Moyes was not convinced that the hard-working frontman is what he required at the London Stadium. City eventually saw enough to convince them that Alvarez was worth taking a punt on and the 22-year-old, who completed a move to the reigning Premier League champions for just £14 million ($17m) in the summer of 2022, now has eight goals for the Blues to his name while also helping his country to global glory in Qatar.

WHAT THEY SAID: Moyes has told the Diary of a CEO podcast of the transfer regrets from across his distinguished coaching career: “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. Just recently, because we’ve been talking about it, Alvarez who has just played for Argentina in the World Cup. I brought 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’.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: West Ham did invest heavily on a new frontman during the summer window of 2022, with Italy international Gianluca Scamacca snapped up from Sassuolo for £35.5m ($44m).

IN THREE PHOTOS:

WHAT NEXT? Scamacca has registered seven goals for the Hammers, but Alvarez has bettered that return for City despite often having to settle for a support role in Pep Guardiola’s plans behind prolific Norwegian frontman Erling Haaland.