Toe Poke Daily: Ajax welcome Edson Alvarez with dig at Arjen Robben


Ajax have welcomed new signing Edson Alvarez with a video highlighting the common ground between the Amsterdam club and the Mexico international's home country.

To the sounds of a mariachi's guitar, a post on the Eredivisie champions' Twitter account plays a welcome message. Narrated in Spanish with English subtitles, it begins with the message: "Although Mexico is very far, we're not that different."

It then begins to compare some of each nation's favourite singers and highlights that while in Mexico they play baseball, in the Dutch capital they ice skate.

Last season's Champions League semifinalists then point that Mexico has "beautiful weather" and Amsterdam also has "weather" -- accompanied by footage of people running from the rain.

The video then adds that, like the Mexicans, Dutch people also like spicy food, and none more so than Mexican delicacies.

But the video's coup de grace is the appearance of Arjen Robben. The Netherlands great, who retired at the end of last season, won a dubious late penalty against El Tri in their 2014 round-of-16 World Cup clash to ensure the Dutch reached the quarterfinals and spawned the viral hashtag "No era penal" ("It wasn't a penalty").

If that appears to be an ill-judged step that tears down the new bridges of friendship between the two nations, it is quickly pointed out: "He never played for Ajax."

Just like when scouting for the world's top talent, Ajax have done their research and they know how to get the Mexico fans onside.