Two Latin American clubs are pushing to sign free agent Dani Alves after his contract with Barcelona expired at the end of June according to a report by ESPN Mexico carried by Marca.
Mexican outfit Club America have offered the Brazilian $3m per season to come to Mexico City, a contract that would make the 39-year-old right-back the fourth-highest paid player in Liga MX. Brazilian side Athletico Paranaense is also interested in him.
Alves – the most decorated player in the history of football – is keen to find a club that will help him to maintain a good competitive level and earn a place in the Brazilian national team for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar. He has 125 caps to date.
Alves hoped that would be with Barcelona, only for the Catalan club to decide against extending the six-month contract he signed when he re-joined the club from Sao Paulo last winter. He played 15 games across all competitions for Barcelona during the second half of 2021/22, contributing a goal and three assists.
“I didn’t leave sad,” Alves told The Guardian. “I left happy to have returned to Barcelona. I dreamed for five years wanting to live this second moment. The only thing I didn’t like was how my departure was handled.
“Since I arrived, I made it very clear that I wasn’t any more a 20-year-old guy and that I wanted things to be done head-on, without hiding things. But this club has sinned in recent years. Barcelona don’t care about the people who made history for the club. As a culer, I would like Barcelona to do things differently.
“I’m not talking about myself because my situation was another scenario. I’m eternally grateful to Xavi [Hernandez] and the president for bringing me back.
“I found a club full of young people with incredible ideas on the pitch. But it needs to improve the work outside the field. The mindset is totally opposite to what we built a few years ago.
“Everything that happens on the field is a reflection of what happens outside. I’m supporting Barcelona to come back to the top, but it’s super-complicated. Football is more balanced, it’s a collective game. And that has been left out at the club.”
