In the Ipswich Town win, West Ham gave a much better performance in both attack as well as the defence. While the attack was struggling to create chances and score more goals in the Premier League, this encouraging display showed signs of progress made by the Hammers under manager Julen Lopetegui in the recent weeks. Still the midfield didn't looked much convincing in this game as star midfielders such as Lucas Paqueta and Edson Alvarez made a couple of underwhelming decisions in the middle of the park and gave away possession several times in the first half.
While the former is linked with a move away from West Ham due to a number of inconsistent performances since the start of the new year, the latter could also depart the London Stadium in the upcoming transfer windows. Alvarez has made several defensive mistakes against Chelsea where he couldn't match Nicolas Jackson's pace and received a red card in the 5-1 Carabao Cup defeat against Liverpool. Therefore West Ham may look to sign another defensive midfielder in January and the Hammers could bring Ex-Chelsea star back to the Premier League.
West Ham offered surprise swap deal to sign Ex-Chelsea star
According to MilanLive, Serie A side Milan have offered a surprising swap deal to West Ham that involves Edson Alvarez and former Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Both midfielders joined their current teams last year and while Alvarez provided defensive solidity to the Hammers in his debut season, Loftus-Cheek helped Milan with goalscoring as well as played in a double pivot role alongside Ismael Bennacer to replace Sandro Tonali at the club. However, Alvarez hasn't been reliable for the Hammers as their deep lying playmaker since recovering from his injury and thus, would be open for a fresh start in Serie A with Paulo Fonseca's Milan.
Moreover Milan are huge admirers of the Mexico international and even attempted to sign him from Ajax last year but couldn't agree with the Eredivisie side on the transfer fee. Hence, the Italian giants can try to offer £15 million plus Loftus-Cheek as part of the deal to secure the services of the 26-year-old holding midfielder. Alongside that, Milan are playing in the UEFA Champions League which could tempt Alvarez to join them and help them return to their former successes in both Italy as well as Europe.
Thus it remains to be seen what the future holds for West Ham's £34 million star as speculation increases over his exit from the club next season.