Frederik Alves saw his West Ham career come to an end in January but the Brondby defender was full of praise for his former club and manager after returning to his native Denmark.
The Danish U21 defender spent the first half of this season on loan at Sunderland but had been training with the West Ham squad for the previous eight months without making a senior appearance for the side.
Alves was a regular member of the Hammers' matchday squad last season where he was included as a substitute 13 times without managing to get on the pitch and the prospect of regular football was what enticed him to accept the move to Brondby in January.
"It was hard to say goodbye to the Premier League. It is a great opportunity to say no to. But it has not been that difficult either, because I see a good opportunity in coming to Brøndby. I chase playing time," Alves told Ekstra Bladet.
Alves may not have featured in David Moyes' plans but the defender was still full of praise for his former manager and the impact he had on his development.
"I learned a lot from Moyes, with whom I had a lot of conversations – and who was an insanely nice and good coach. He was a defender himself, so he taught me a lot about positioning and how to do it," Alves added.
"In our conversations I was told that I was the best of our centre-backs on the ball. It was cool to be told, but I could also see it on the training ground."
Despite Alves' claim the defender was deemed surplus to requirements at West Ham and after an unsuccessful loan spell at Sunderland the Hammers accepted an offer from Brondby and he departed with the best wishes of the club in January.
