Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch disagree with Sneijder on Edson Alvarez

Manchester United icon Rio Ferdinand and former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch have disagreed with ex-Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder regarding his recent comments about Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez. The Mexican was linked with a move to the Premier League in the summer, as Chelsea were the team rumoured to be close to signing him, but the Eredivisie side refused to sell any more of their star players.Lisandro Martinez and Antony were allowed to go to United for large fees, and there were reports that Alvarez attempted to follow the Brazilian’s strategy of getting his move to England by going on strike, though the tactic did not pay off and the summer transfer window ended with the 25-year-old still in Amsterdam.Ahead of Ajax’s Champions League tie with Liverpool, Sneijder claimed that his former team made a mistake in resisting offers for Alvarez and that they could have bought two quality players with the potential £50million that was rumoured at the time, as has been their policy for several years.’Edson Alvarez plays every ball backwards or sideways, he’s of no use,’ Sneijder told Dutch outlet Voetbal International. “They [Ajax] should have taken him to London quickly. You could have signed two good players for that [amount of money Chelsea offered in the summer].’ Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch spoke up in defence of Edson Alvarez. (Image: GETTY / BT Sport)However, both Ferdinand and Crouch disagreed with the ex-playmaker regarding Alvarez’s quality and Ajax’s decision to keep him. ‘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,’ Ferdinand told BT Sport.’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.’DON’T MISSMan Utd finally have a Roy Keane successor ahead of Sheriff clashArsenal signing Milinkovic-Savic would be bad news for four playersFA confirm decision on Henderson and Gabriel bust-up during Arsenal vs Liverpool Chelsea target Edson Alvarez in action for Ajax. (Image: GETTY)