Marco van Basten rips into £13m Tottenham defensive target

Marco Van Basten has criticised Ajax’s decision to spend £13million on Tottenham defensive target Edson Alvarez last summer.

The former Club America star joined last season’s Champions League semi-finalists in July and was expected to fill the huge void left by Matthijs de Ligt’s departure to Juventus.

But the 22-year-old has really struggled to make an impact in the Eredivisie and has started only two of the club’s last 11 league games.

His nightmare season also took a turn for the worse when he gave away a penalty in a KNVB Cup semi-final defeat to Utrecht.

And now Ajax legend Van Basten has put the boot in by criticising the club’s decision to spend £13m on Alvarez in the first place, as quoted by Fox Sports.

The three-time Ballon D’Or winner said: “Come on! If you buy someone, he must be of the level (required to play for a club like Ajax). Otherwise, it’s just meaningless.

“What is going on at Ajax in the youth (team) is better than (signing) all sorts of foreigners.”

However, it would appear that Alvarez may be on the move after just one season in Holland, with Spurs strongly tipped to make a move for the player, according to De Telegraaf.

Jose Mourinho’s men are said to have tried to land the player in January, but are ready to renew their bid in the summer as the Tottenham chief plans a defensive overhaul.

Meanwhile, Tottenham duo Steven Bergwijn and Ben Davies missed training ahead of the Champions League last-16 second leg with RB Leipzig.

Winger Bergwijn picked up a knock in the final stages of the 1-1 draw with Burnley on Saturday, a game Davies missed with a suspected hamstring injury.

Neither featured in the club’s open session ahead of an afternoon flight to Germany, where Spurs must overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit on Tuesday night. Read more…