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What’s the story?
Dani Alves is one of the most decorated football players in the world and now, in his latest interview, he has opened up on his transfer to Barcelona from Sevilla in 2018. The Brazilian revealed that he had an opportunity to join Real Madrid, but he's glad having passed it up for the Catalon giants.
In case you didn’t know..
Alves had an illustrious career in Spain as he won three Champions Leagues, six La Liga titles and four Copa Del Rey trophies among other honours with Barcelona during his eight-year spell at the Camp Nou. He left Barcelona for Juventus in 2016 before moving to Paris Saint-Germain the following summer.
The heart of the matter
The attacking right-back in a recent interview admitted that he had an opportunity to join Barcelona's eternal rivals Real Madrid and the move was indeed very close to happening, but he is happy that he went to the Catalan club instead.
"I will be honest, I was close, 95 percent, to joining Real Madrid .
"However, [then-Sevilla president] Del Nido was a very tough guy. Chelsea also entered negotiations. I told them that another team was open to paying more money than them.
"Then I had to make a decision and I stayed with Sevilla. I was very close to signing for Real Madrid but fate interrupted the path.
"I said that my story would be made with Barcelona, like I had dreamed as a kid. And you have to make those dreams come true, instead of nightmares.
"I am grateful to be able to have avoided moving to Real Madrid and, obviously, joining Barcelona."
The Brazilian implied that he was not sure of adding value to Real side as they were already a star-studded team and it would have been tough for him to maintain a lifestyle that a club of Real Madrid's stature demands. Therefore, the Barca project was more appealing for him.
"Real [Madrid] were already a winning team and I was not going to go there to maintain the status quo.
"For me, it was more exciting to build what we did at Barcelona.
"We had to change the story and we did that. In Madrid, I would have added pages to a book they had already written.
"On the other hand, with Barcelona it was a different matter."
What's next?
Alves, after completing the season with PSG, is now setting his eyes on winning the Copa America with Brazil this summer.
