Andy van der Meyde has suggested Ajax star Edson Alvarez shouldn’t have been so keen on a move to Chelsea, as they clearly weren’t all that keen on him.
Alvarez found himself the subject of a late bid from Chelsea on deadline day of the transfer window, with the Blues scrambling to add a midfielder to Thomas Tuchel’s squad.
They eventually settled on Dennis Zakaria at Juventus, securing a loan deal for the Switzerland star until the end of the season.
Before that deal was done, they had focused on Alvarez, making a late bid for his services but finding Ajax reluctant to sell following a summer of big-name exits.
That frustrated the midfielder, who went on strike and refused to train in an attempt to force through a move to Stamford Bridge.
That did not work, with Ajax refusing to bow down once more after similar strikes by the likes of Antony and Lisandro Martinez earlier in the window.
There have been suggestions that Alvarez will instead be allowed to join Chelsea in January, but Van der Meyde believes he shouldn’t be so keen on the switch.
“For a player it’s not because they really have confidence in you, otherwise they would have knocked on your door sooner,” he told Veronica Offside, relayed by Voetbal 4U.
“Now they want to make a panic purchase and he wants to leave Ajax straight away. Then he must realise they just want me because they have nothing else.”
