Rio Ferdinand has defended Edson Alvarez after the Newcastle United target was slammed by former Ajax ace Wesley Sneijder.
Ajax hosted Liverpool on Wednesday night as they met in the Champions League.
Ajax gave Liverpool a real scare in their meeting at Anfield but that isn’t quite how this game went.
Liverpool claimed a convincing 3-0 win as Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott all found the back of the net.
That sends Liverpool through to the last 16 of the Champions League and leaves Ajax to head into the Europa League.
Rio Ferdinand has defended Edson Alvarez
Ajax may be disappointed to have only claimed three points from five games but they had a real summer upheaval.
Not many clubs could hope with losing the likes of Andre Onana, Noussair Mazraoui, Lisandro Martinez, Nicolas Tagliafico, Ryan Gravenberch, Antony and Sebastien Haller in one summer.
They did though manage to keep hold of Edson Alvarez despite strong interest.
TUDN in Alvarez’s native Mexico reported that Newcastle offered around €30million (£26million) for Alvarez before the transfer deadline.
Ajax rejected that bid and then fended off interest from Chelsea too, keeping Alvarez in Amsterdam.
Former Ajax star Wesley Sneijder isn’t all that convinced though and has been quoted by Voetbalzone as saying that Alvarez’s style is of ‘no use’.
The retired Sneijder suggests that he could play like Alvarez in terms of just passing the ball sideways and backwards, believing that Ajax should have sold him.
Those comments have made their way to England and were spoken about by Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport (7:40) before Ajax faced Liverpool.
Ferdinand completely disagreed with Sneijder, suggesting that players like Alvarez are absolutely vital to providing the platform for more exciting players to go forward.
As quoted by the Daily Express, Ferdinand praised Alvarez for how he breaks up play and believes he should be appreciated a little more.
“I saw some comments from Wesley Sneijder saying that Ajax should have got rid of him when Chelsea put a bid in for him because he passes the ball backwards,” said Ferdinand.
“But he does some of the stuff you don’t normally see, definitely not Instagrammable. He does the stuff when he breaks the play up and allows the more creative players to go and perform. These types of players are so invaluable and you appreciate them so much because they give you the platform to go and play the football Ajax love to play,” he added.
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