Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up
All Scores
Odds by

Dani Alves: If Barcelona don’t start showing me respect, I’ll leave this summer

FBL-ESP-LIGA-BARCELONA

Dani Alves, FC Barcelona

AFP/Getty Images

Dani Alves feels he’s been disrespected by Barcelona. Furthermore, the four-time FIFPro World XI right back says he won’t think twice about leaving the club this summer, when his current contract expires, if they don’t showing him the money respect he “deserves.”

[ TOP 5: Barca vs. Juventus UCL final storylines ]

Alves’s perceived slight comes from Barcelona’s lack of interest and/or effort to re-sign the 32-year-old Brazilian until FIFA’s one-year transfer ban was confirmed just before the January transfer window. Unable to sign a new starting right back until January 2016, Barcelona now need Alves to stay more than they otherwise would have.

Alves, on his future, from the Guardian:

“I may have two feet in the team but I’ve also got one foot, my body and nearly my head out of the club. I would like to stay here but not at any price. Not only in terms of money but in terms of respect. If I’m not show that respect, I’ll go to another club.”

“I won’t accept that they underestimate what I have given to this club. They haven’t given me the value I deserve.”

“From June 7, I’ll announce my future. My intention was not to speak but I haven’t been respected with a lot of silly things. It’s gone too far. I don’t want anybody to influence my decisions. My future only depends on me.”


According to Alves, the current rift between player and club isn’t about money, but about respect, which is, of course, the first tactic taught in Veteran Athletes Negotiating New Contracts With A Club They Don’t Want To Leave, But By Whom They Still Want To Be Paid Very Well.

[ MORE: Report: Real, Atletico Madrid could be hit with similar transfer bans ]

The market for Alves, should he become a free agent this summer, would be a healthy one with clubs like Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain frequently linked to his services, but an attacking full back on the wrong side of 30 can realistically only be expected to perform at an Alves-like level for another year, maybe two, maximum.

Alves himself knows this, his agent knows this, and the hierarchy at Barcelona knows this. Alves is simply — and brazenly — posturing for the final round of contract negotiations, which will almost surely end in a new deal and extended stay in Catalonia. With the club severely handcuffed by the transfer ban, it’s hard to imagine Alves not being paid any dollar figure he desires.

Follow @AndyEdMLS