During the first game of the season against Aston Villa, it was absolutely apparent how vital Edson Alvarez is to this West Ham side. Without him, the opposition is able to just walk through their midfield and it’s arguably the main reason they lost the opening game.
Thankfully, it was only the next match that he made his return to the squad and he then went on to start the next two matches. Despite clearly proving his fitness following his injury, Mexico’s manager Javier Aguirre decided to leave his captain out the side.
Understandably, this has left a lot of Mexicans baffled, including journalist Alberto Bernard who even went as far as to speculate that maybe the midfielder himself chose not to travel. “Why wasn’t Edson Álvarez called up?” Bernard questioned. “Because he was injured? So, because the week before the FIFA date he played three games, he came on as a substitute against Crystal Palace, started in the Cup against Bournemouth and also on the weekend he gave a great game against Manchester City, starting with Guido Rodríguez in containment and then as a centre back.”
“Did El Machín ask not to be summoned? After he was injured in the last Copa América and took a long time to recover, or does the National Team Commission still not have the capacity to manage the relationship with the clubs?”
Although it’s a bewildering decision, from a West Ham perspective it’s brilliant news. An extra two weeks to recover fully from his injury could be massive in him keeping his fitness for the season.
