Wesley Sneijder was not happy about the performance from his former club last weekend. In particular, he went after the two Mexican players on the squad. Sneijder mentioned that Jorge Sanchez and his partner on the other side of the Ajax defensive line were the two worst at their position out of the 8 top clubs in the division.
Not a lot of people had an issue with those initial comments. To be fair Jorge Sanchez has not had an easy time in his first season at Ajax. Perhaps the biggest issue for Sanchez is that we haven’t seen anything better from him. With a lot of players that are new to the European game it takes time for them to adapt. If they have potential though it usually shines through. Chicharito and Santi Gimenez who both arrived in Europe to immediately score goals are rare exceptions. Most stories are like that of Erick Gutierrez. He took some time to adapt, but ultimately his skills were on display.
The problem for Sanchez is that not even the biggest Club America fan out there thought that he had the potential to go to Europe. His sale to Ajax came out of nowhere. Essentially for him to flourish in the Netherlands he’d have to unlock some potential that’s never really been on display.
What About The Edson Alvarez Teaching Salsa Comment?
Edson Alvarez has had an up and down year at Ajax in his first season without manager Erik ten Hag. There’s an argument to be made that there have just been too many distractions for him this season. He had to deal with transfer rumors in the summer and the winter. Also, even though he’s one of the best Mexican players in the world he was never truly embraced by Tata Martino. That meant that he came into the World Cup with a lot of uncertainty. Having said all of this criticism of his play on the field seems to be warranted. Particularly in the last few weeks as the team continues to slip down the table.
What we’re not in line with at all are the Salsa comments. The reference to Salsa dancing is meant with a clear intention to criticize a Latin player. It’s certainly a clearly racially motivated remark. An ignorant one at best because salsa dancing is not Mexican. However, that’s not an excuse that should be valid enough for Sneijder.
Yes Sanchez Is Bad, But There Are Also Racist Undertones
Two things can absolutely be true in this particular case. As we mentioned, Jorge Sanchez is just not that talented. For him to be able to stay on at Ajax he needs to play much better. It’s really hard to see him doing so because honestly there was just not a lot of “special” with him at Club America. Why Ajax came and bought him is still something that’s a bit of a mystery.
The Sneijder comments, particularly those about Alvarez, prove once again a reality that a lot of times we don’t want to admit. That is the fact that Europeans on many occasions have looked down on Mexican players. We can go back to the “indio” chants directed at Hugo Sanchez throughout his tenure at Atlético Madrid or the poor treatment of Latin American players by Dutch coach Louis van Gaal.
It’s not a coincidence that Lionel Messi got so heated at the World Cup with van Gaal, in the famous “Que miras bobo” comments. Argentine players deliberately went and mocked Van Gaal because of the way that he’d treated Ángel Di María in the past. He did the same to Chicharito and Radamel Falcao at Manchester United. This is not meant to imply that all Dutch people are racist by any means. However, it is a clear example that racism against Latin American players still exists within European clubs.
