What the immediate future holds for Edson Alvarez, West Ham United’s Mexican midfielder linked with Fenerbahce, Borussia Dortmund, FC Porto and Ajax, is anyone’s guess.
At this stage, it is not even certain that he is destined to leave the London Stadium before the transfer window closes at the start of September.
One week after Edson Alvarez’s agent played down an Ajax return – the Eredivise giants will struggle to match his £100,000-a-week wages – Hammers News can confirm that reports of an imminent switch to Fenerbahce are wide of the mark.
Despite claims that Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce were set to sign Alvarez on loan with an option-to-buy, while taking over the entirety of his wages, it appears that things are not quite as advanced as initially hoped.
Mexico legend Hugo Sanchez, therefore, cannot help but feel for his Gold Cup-winning compatriot as uncertainty hangs thick in the East London air.
Edson Alvarez has found starts hard to come by throughout the Graham Potter era at West Ham United. But is Fenerbahce the right place for the soon-to-be 28-year-old to kick-start his career, in the knowledge that he may have only one big contract left before the autumn of his career?
Sanchez has his doubts.
Hugo Sanchez Real Madrid 1989
Photo by Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive
Mexico legend Hugo Sanchez warns Edson Alvarez about leaving West Ham United for Fenerbahce
Speaking to ESPN Mexico, Real Madrid icon Sanchez admits that he is concerned about the prospect of the national team skipper spending his prime years in Istanbul.
“It worries me, not only as a person but as a footballer, as a professional,” says Sanchez, who scored a staggering 208 goals in 282 appearances for Los Blancos.
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“Be careful because there have been many professionals – I can say this from my own experience, even Luis Aragones – who when they go to Turkey are given very special and very strange contracts.”
Aragones, Sanchez’s former coach at Atletico, signed a two-year deal with Fenerbahce in 2008 but only lasted eleven months.
In more recent times, the likes of Ryan Kent, Michy Batshuayi and Dusan Tadic all spent very short-lived spells at the perennial Super Lig runners-up.
“You have to be very careful that your agent advises you very well,” adds Sanchez, regular first-team minutes even more important for Alvarez with his home nation set to co-host the 2026 World Cup.
“To be in the World Cup as the leader of your team, that’s fantastic. [But] at the age of 28, he has to think about climbing [the ladder].”
The good news is that, while Ajax appear to have cooled their interest and while discussions with Fenerbahce are not quite as advanced as some have suggested, there is plenty of interest in a man valued by West Ham at £20 million.
El Tri captain and West Ham midfielder Edson Alvarez during Mexico v Dominican Republic in the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2025
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
Alvarez has offers while Emerson Palmieri and Guido Rodriguez sales edge closer
The Guardian say that Alvarez has offers on the table from Porto and long-term admirers Borussia Dortmund, though one suspects the Hammers would prefer guarantees over a permanent switch.
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It appears that the forgotten man Emerson Palmieri may finally see his transfer ‘freeze’ thaw a little though.
Marseille are reportedly interested, weeks after the ex-Chelsea left-back saw a move to Real Betis fall through.
In another boost, Guido Rodriguez is edging closer to Saudi Arabia in a deal that should earn the Hammers a cool £6.5 million.
Rodriguez was holding out for a La Liga return with Betis, but the financial might of those Saudi Pro League clubs makes a move to the Middle East the most likely scenario as things stand.