I was an hour away from Chelsea move before deal was called off - I even had a plane waiting

West Ham midfielder Edson Alvarez has revealed how close he came to signing for Chelsea during his time at Ajax.

The Hammers signed Alvarez from Ajax last summer in a deal worth around £35 million. The move for Alvarez came after West Ham sold Declan Rice to Arsenal in a £105 million deal, with David Moyes needing to strengthen his midfield options.

Alvarez has since gone on to make 35 appearances so far in his debut season in English football with West Ham. The 26-year-old also has two goals to his name, with one each in the Premier League and Europa League.

However, as Alvarez tells it, things could have gone very differently. The Mexico international has claimed that he was close to signing for Chelsea months before he joined West Ham.

Alvarez has claimed that he was «one hour away» from boarding a plane that would take him to sign a contract for Chelsea. However, he claims that Ajax decided at the eleventh hour that he would not be leaving the club.

«Actually, in year three [at Ajax], I had to go to Chelsea, the plane was waiting for me at the airport,» Alvarez said in an interview with Caliente TV. «When Ajax told me, 'You know what: you’re not going'.

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»Whether people believe it or not, it doesn’t make any difference to me, I’m the one who is here and the one who is living it.

«I was an hour away from getting on the plane and going to sign for Chelsea and Ajax told me: ‘You’re not going’. So, you’re not leaving, what do you do? There’s no way you’re leaving.»

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