£120,000-A-Week Star Confirms EPL Move

Dani Alves has revealed that he will be joining an English Premiership outfit next summer. The Barcelona right back moved to Catalonia from Sevilla for £30m in 2008. With about 20 goals in over 300 games for his current club, the 31 year old has for several years stamped his feet as one of the super stars in professional football. Known for his characteristic bustling upfront, the Brazilian has received several credits for being so outstanding on the attack while still versatile enough to handle his defensive duties. Speaking to Brazilian newspaper O Globo, Alves revealed that this will be his last season with the Catalan giants. In about 6 years with Barcelona, he has won 4 La Liga tittles, the Copa Del Rey, 2 World Club Cup trophies and 2 Champions League trophies where they thumped Manchester United on both occasions.

With Arsenal’s recent acquisition of Mathieu Debuchy in the right back position, Chelsea’s options in Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic , and Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna for Manchester City, it leaves only Manchester United and Liverpool to really jostle for Alves’s signature. Brendan Rogers may want to tempt Alves, whose contract expires next year over to Anfield to inject more experience as Glen Johnson’s is already seeing out the last year of his contract. Liverpool have hitherto secured Javier Manquillo from Atletico Madrid on temporary basis but considering Dani Alves’s quality, the Reds may want to bid their time before working out a permanent deal with Atletico.

Manchester United on the other hand has serious defensive issues to contend with and may likely welcome the idea of bringing in such a tested talent, having transferred Patrice Evra to Italian giants Juventus for £1.5m this summer. Although Rafael has been encouraging this season, his inconsistency in previous seasons, and the hard time Luke Shaw is facing settling down, had forced Van Gaal to deploy Phil Jones and Chris Smalling on the right. Both Jones and Smalling due to lack of pace, appear to be more comfortable in the centre back position and cannot supply the bustling runs that is required for the success of United’s diamond formation. With United’s summer transfers, Van Gaal has shown that unlike Sir Alex Ferguson and David Moyes, he prefers to bring in already tested stars to ensure an urgent execution of his philosophy so bringing in a player of Dani Alves’s calibre will make perfect sense. Since he took over at Manchester United, the Dutch man has tried various formations all of which suits the Brazilian perfectly. More so, since Alves will be available for free, he will provide United a cost free tutelage for teenage sensation, Shaw. However, United must still shop for younger wingers like Juan Caudrado who can help on the long term but in the interim, they could benefit from the experience of the Brazilian.