Chelsea’s €63m bid for popular Ajax star rejected

Imre Himmelbauer

• Updated: 17 May 2023 09:17 BST
• 3 min read

Ajax rejected a bid of no less than €63.25 million last summer from Chelsea for Edson Alvarez.

The Mexico international midfielder was of interest to the Blues for a prolonged period, but the Amsterdam club stood rast in their refusal to sell. Previously, it had been reported that the Premier League’s side offer was €50m – but it was, in fact, substantially more than that for the defensive-minded player.

The Londoners also showed interest in Alvarez during the January transfer window, but Ajax again refused to cooperate. On this occasion, they were prepared to offer €51.25m for the player.

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It is now expected that Alvarez is in his final weeks at Ajax. He has made his desire to depart from the club explicit and has been of interest to several top clubs around Europe.

This is not the first time that he has been forceful about wanting to quit. When Chelsea pursued him a year ago, he was already trying to force his way out of the club. Now he wants to depart at all costs.

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Where will Alvarez go this summer?

Borussia Dortmund seem to be in the best position to land Alvarez, although they will have to compete with Bayern Munich for the player’s signature. It was FCB boss Thomas Tuchel who wanted to sign Alvarez to Chelsea initially.

Any move to Bayern, though, may be dependent on the club being able to move other players on. Among them is Marcel Sabitzer, who is currently on loan at Manchester United. The Red Devils appear to favour a move for free agent Adrien Rabiot rather than moving for the Austria international for €25 million at this juncture.

Nevertheless, Alvarez is seen as a strong partner for Joshua Kimmich because he is tactically discipline and strong in duels.

De Telegraaf expects Ajax to earn a lot less from Alvarez next summer than they might have done last year.

The newspaper believes that Ajax will have to settle for an amount of around €40m. It is expected that both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are willing to put that amount on the table for the 25-year-old Mexican.