David Moyes turned down chance to sign Manchester City forward and World Cup winner Julian Alvarez

West Ham United manager David Moyes has revealed that he turned down the chance to sign Julian Alvarez last year.

Alvarez, who recently helped Argentina to World Cup glory for the first time in over three decades, joined Manchester City from River Plate in the summer, after agreeing a £14 million switch in January 2022.

The 22 year-old scored four goals at the tournament in Qatar, having netted eight times for City since his arrival at the Etihad Stadium.

Alvarez scored on debut in the FA Community Shield defeat to Liverpool in July and marked his full Premier League debut with two goals against Nottingham Forest.

The Argentine forward also scored during the Sky Blues’ recent 4-0 win over Chelsea in the Emirates FA Cup.

Alvarez was subject to transfer interest from across the Premier League and Europe during his time with River Plate, and David Moyes has now revealed that West Ham rejected the opportunity to sign the striker.

Speaking to Steven Bartlett as part of The Diary Of A CEO podcast, the current Hammers manager revealed that he personally turned down the opportunity to sign Alvarez last year.

“I brought in a new scout who says ‘look you should go for Alvarez at River Plate’ and I watched him and I watched him and I thought very good technician, I thought he’d done so many good things as a centre forward but maybe not quite the one we want,” said Moyes.

The West Ham manager continued: “You see sometimes the players change in six months, but I have to say there’s other players like that who you don’t take and don’t go on to be a real success.

“But that one at the moment is just one because it was probably only a year ago where I decided nah, I don’t think it’s probably the one we’re going to take.”

Moyes is currently under significant pressure at the London Stadium, with West Ham sat in the relegation zone with just four wins in the league this season.