Exclusive: Arsenal, Liverpool & Newcastle have considered transfer of versatile 25-year-old

Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez has been of interest to Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle United in recent times, while Chelsea came close to signing him in the summer but never stuck to their word about coming back in for him.

This is according to Ben Jacobs in his exclusively weekly column for CaughtOffside, with Alvarez clearly having plenty of admirers in the Premier League after impressing in his time in the Eredivisie.

Ajax lost some key figures last summer, with manager Erik ten Hag moving to Manchester United and then raiding his former club for Antony and Lisandro Martinez.

So it’s not too surprising that Ajax weren’t too keen to let Alvarez go, even though Jacobs says Arsenal considered him, while he also named Liverpool and Newcastle as teams who have also shown an interest.

“Edson Alvarez is another name who could be on the move this summer,” Jacobs said.

“Chelsea came close to signing the Ajax midfielder last summer, but the club refused a move despite Alvarez pushing for it. Todd Boehly did tell Alvarez at the time he’d be back, but never returned.

“This is understandable given a new recruitment team came in and the club became obsessed with Enzo Fernandez. Plus, Denis Zakaria impressed before his injury and will return to full fitness soon.”

He added: “Arsenal considered Alvarez in January to a degree, but it became quickly clear Ajax didn’t want to do mid-season business. Liverpool have looked at Alvarez before and chose not to proceed and Newcastle are another club to have him at least loosely on their radar.”

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Arsenal could still do with another midfielder in the summer, and Alvarez can also offer an option at centre-back.

Liverpool would also surely do well to strengthen in that area after the struggles of both their midfield and defence in this hugely disappointing season.

Newcastle, meanwhile, look pretty good at the moment, but seem likely to keep on scouring the market for top talent like this as they bid to become a serious top four contender.