West Ham United boss David Moyes has made signing a new central midfielder a priority this summer ahead of Declan Rice's expected departure.

Rice, a target for the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Bayern Munich, will generate a huge transfer fee that can be pumped back into the squad.

The lure of more continental football next season, with West Ham back in the Europa League after winning the Europa Conference League last week, will help massively when it comes to persuading new recruits to join.

Fulham's Joao Palhinha appears to be high on Moyes' list of targets, but his reported £50m valuation will wipe out a large amount of the Hammers' transfer kitty, so it may make sense to look elsewhere for a cheaper alternative who has shown plenty of promise.

A regular for Ajax over the past four years and capped 61 times by Mexico, Edson Alvarez could be just the man for West Ham.

Is Edson Alvarez a good option for West Ham?

Alvarez looked all set to join Borussia Dortmund for a fee of £30m this summer – the German club themselves looking to replace a talented English midfielder of their own in Jude Bellingham – but 90min suggests West Ham are hoping to hijack a bid after opening talks with the player's agent.

The Mexican has made just short of 150 appearances for Ajax since joining from Club America in July 2019, 31 of those coming last season in what was ultimately a disappointing campaign for the Dutch heavyweights.

With 2,589 minutes played in Eredivisie, as per WhoScored, Alvarez was Ajax's third-most used player behind Dusan Tadic (2,971) and Jurrien Timber (3,033), and he chipped in with six direct goal involvements (three goals, three assists).

However, the 25-year-old is not necessarily in the team to find the net, but more for his defensive attributes – as highlighted by the ten yellow cards he received last season, which was level with FC Twente's Robin Propper for the most in Eredivisie.

As highlighted by FBref, Alvarez could not match Palhinha (4.26) for tackles per 90 minutes last season – who could? However, he managed a respectable 2.47 a game, which for comparison is more than Rice (2.17) and Tomas Soucek (2.45) at West Ham.

It is in another metric that Alvarez particularly thrived, and helps explain just why he is so highly regarded by some elite clubs. With an average of 83.91 passes attempted per 90 minutes over the past year, he ranks in the top 1% of his central midfield peers across Europe's top eight leagues.

Palhinha was hugely impressive in his debut campaign with Fulham but could not match that figure, recording a rather low (36.89). Those stats help to show where both players are at their strongest, meaning it is effectively up to West Ham to decide what they are in more need of.

If Moyes is after a player who is comfortable passing the ball around and can advance it up the field, then Alvarez appears a better fit. The Ajax midfielder averaged 97.9 touches per 90 minutes last season, compared to 49.7 for Palhinha, and was successful with 46.2% of his tackles (35.9% for Palhinha).

Previously described as a "monster" by The Athletic writer Felipe Cardenas for his displays in midfield for Mexico, Alvarez also won an average of 3.38 aerial duels for Ajax last season, which is superior to that of Palhinha (2.06).

Alvarez is not exactly a like-for-like replacement for Rice but, at potentially £20m cheaper than Palhinha, he appears to have all the right qualities to thrive in the Premier League for West Ham.