This season feels like it could be a brutal one for West Ham United.
The board have made a few good signings, such as Mads Hermansen and El Hadji Malick Diouf, but with Callum Wilson being their only attacking signing, it feels like they have left themselves short.
Moreover, it now looks almost certain that Edson Alvarez will be leaving the London Stadium before the window shuts, leaving the squad even lighter on quality.
Fortunately, reports have linked the club to a midfield talent who’d be a brilliant addition to the side and a significant upgrade on the Mexican.
West Ham target Alvarez upgrade
When West Ham signed Alvarez from Ajax in the summer of 2023, there was a lot of understandable excitement around the deal.
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After all, the Mexican international won two league titles with the Amsterdam outfit and left with 147 appearances under his belt.
However, instead of coming in and making up for the loss of Declan Rice, the 27-year-old has struggled with the pace and intensity of English football, and now looks like he could leave the club this summer, either on loan or permanently.
Interestingly, the East Londoners are now being linked with an up-and-coming talent who could come in and replace Alvarez.
At least that is according to a recent report from Sky Sports’ Tim Vickery, who has claimed that West Ham are interested in Andrey Santos.
It’s not the first time the Hammers have been credited with an interest in the exciting Brazilian, as reports from earlier this month claimed that they have already seen an offer of around £42m rejected.
It remains to be seen whether this is a transfer that could happen, but if there is any chance at all, West Ham have to take it, as Santos would be an excellent signing and a massive upgrade on Alvarez.
How Santos compares to Alvarez
So, the first thing to point out is that while Santos is certainly a midfielder who can get forward and attack, and is more inclined to do so compared to Alvarez, he has still spent almost half of his playing career in the six position.
Moreover, respected analyst Ben Mattinson has gone as far as calling him a “duel monster” for the tenacious way he wins the ball off opposition players and argues that this, combined with his “top tackling ability”, helps to make him “brilliant at screening the backline.”
In other words, the 21-year-old is no pushover when it comes to the defensive side of playing in the middle of the park.
With that, how do the pair stack up against one another when we take a look under the hood, at their underlying numbers?
Unfortunately for the Mexican international, it’s an incredibly one-sided affair, as the former Vasco da Gama gem outperforms him in practically every relevant metric, including things like expected and actual non-penalty goals, progressive carries, shot and goal-creating actions, tackles, blocks, interceptions and more, all per 90.
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
0.27
0.06
Non-Penalty G+As
0.41
0.05
Progressive Carries
4.70
4.31
Progressive Passes
0.91
1.22
Shots
1.45
0.61
Shots on Target
0.50
0.05
Passing Accuracy
88.2%
85.8%
Key Passes
0.85
0.61
Shot-Creating Actions
1.77
1.42
Goal-Creating Actions
0.19
0.10
Tackles Won
2.33
1.37
Blocks
1.45
1.17
Interceptions
1.01
0.91
Ball Recoveries
5.93
4.47
These numbers help to paint the picture of an all-action midfielder who is dynamic and dangerous in attack, but also robust and solid enough in defence.
Finally, on top of everything else, the Blues ace is able to transform his impressive attacking numbers into real output.
In 34 appearances for Strasbourg last season, the 21-year-old phenom scored 11 goals and provided five assists and was praised by Mattinson for the way he “crashes the box.”
Ultimately, while it might require a massive fee, West Ham should be going all out to sign Santos this summer, as not only would he be a huge upgrade on Alvarez, but he’d help elevate the entire team.