West Ham United midfielder Edson Alvarez has commented on past interest from Chelsea as a move to Stamford Bridge was previously "an hour away".

The Hammers were busy during the 2023 summer transfer window as they invested heavily to improve their squad following Declan Rice's PS105m move to Premier League rivals Arsenal.

West Ham snapped up Alvarez after Chelsea move collapsed David Moyes' side spent around PS125m to sign Alvarez, Mohammed Kudus, James Ward-Prowse and Konstantinos Mavropanos.

25-year-old Alvarez has impressed for West Ham during his debut season after he previously came close to joining Chelsea.

The Blues targeted him during the 2022 summer window but Ajax blocked him from leaving after they let Antony and Lisandro Martinez join Manchester United.

Alvarez expressed his disappointment after his move to Chelsea fell through and he has now revealed that he was "an hour away from getting on the plane" to complete his move to Stamford Bridge.

"Actually, in year three [at Ajax], I had to go to Chelsea, the plane was waiting for me at the airport. When Ajax told me you know what: 'you're not going'," Alvarez said during his appearance on Burro Van Rankin's podcast for Caliente TV (via Sport Witness).

"Whether people believe it or not, it doesn't make any difference to me, I'm the one who is here and the one who is living it.

"I was an hour away from getting on the plane and going to sign for Chelsea and Ajax told me: 'you're not going'. So, you're not leaving, what do you do? There's no way you're leaving."

"We reached an agreement with Chelsea..." Alvarez's comments came about after Chelsea missed out on Kudus last summer.

The Ghana international was previously heavily linked with Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd so West Ham pulled off a major coup to secure his services.

His agent - Jen Mendelewitsch - recently explained why his move to Chelsea fell through despite an "agreement" being reached with Ajax.

"We reached an agreement with Chelsea, we agreed the contract with Chelsea but the deal was not done," Mendelewitsch said.

"He talked with the coach but in the end it didn't happen because Chelsea made a ridiculous offer to Ajax.

"There was no counter offer. Chelsea did this with lots of players this summer, making very low offers to clubs knowing that they would not be accepted.

"The truth is that they were completely focused on the transfer of Caicedo which took up all their energy."

Regarding interest from PSG, she added: "He wanted to leave but there weren't 50,000 clubs that needed a midfielder and could afford him.

"Obviously we offered his profile to PSG, then it was the club's choice not to not move forward. Every club has the right to decide that they go to another profile or that it is not their priority."