Football Insider are reporting that Ajax midfielder Edson Álvarez is being watched by the Premier League trio of Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Leicester City, and Erik ten Hag’s midfield maestro appears ready to graduate to one of the highest echelons of world football.
The former Club America man holds the lofty mantle of being the anchor man in a famously ntelligent and offensive Ajax system, as he shores up the backline and aids in transition between both halves of the pitch. Crucially, Álvarez grasps this role with both hands. He is noted as an excellent communicator with his teammates, which is especially crucial given that Ajax’s fluid build-up means there’s no fixed shape with which they attack with.
He’s equally an expert in reading between lines with prophetic foresight.
He’s equally an expert in reading between lines with prophetic foresight, rendering himself as a deep passing option that can help his team to maintain momentum and panache in transitions. Think of him in the Kouyaté role, but with greater fluidity in terms of where he can drift into.
Álvarez’s 2021-2022 Season Heatmap
Operating in the pockets ensures Ajax can better-implement their style of football, thereby ensuring that, even in a deeper role, anchor man Álvarez still has offensive centrality.
Álvarez certainly has the potential to make a transformative difference.
Defensively though, Álvarez certainly has the potential to make a transformative difference. He is great at intercepting the ball (1.7 interceptions per 90) and tackling (2.0 per 90). He doesn’t boast as much flair and dribbling (0.7 per 90) and loses possession 11.7 times per 90. However, with 50% ground duels won, 67% aerial duels won and only fouling opponents one time per 90 on average, he can make a notable impact individually from midfield.
It’s hard to see why the much-capped Mexico international would take Luka Milivojevic over the likes of Wilfried Ndidi and N’golo Kante as defensive partners, though perhaps a more obvious route into regular gametime in a fluid, attacking system is a boon to the Palace case in its own right.
Often deployed in other positions, he is an up-and-coming young enforcer that, just like Sangaré, is growing into a Dutch-based star. His heatmap is indicative of his all-action impact on a regular basis, and has a tendency to drift wide to support his team in transition when needed.
He bears the hallmark of a jewel in his team’s crown that, put simply, makes things happen. He’s one to watch, for sure.
In truth, it feels probable that the club will not strengthen in January. We would all love that previous statement to ring hollow come the stroke of midnight as the month ticks into February, but the squad is in a fairly healthy position and has been helped by a number of squad options enjoying both more game time and an upturn in form.
Most sensible business is sure to come at a hefty price if it doesn’t involve a loan, so any signing has to be based on long-term planning and not short-term knee-jerkism.
Regardless, Palace are playing well and look destined to remain in the league. Panic is a distant prospect, and the club can look ahead to healthy future-proofing on the squad. Whether any of these names are on the club’s radar remains to be seen, but many of their talents nonetheless remain as tantalising as their reputations - and data - appears to suggest.
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P.S. Massive thank-you to regular contributor Mihai (@TacticsBadger) for his invaluable data contributions. His research and oversight made this tick, and I couldn’t have completed it without him.