Barcelona have reportedly ruled out the possibility of re-signing former defender and club icon Dani Alves, who is currently a free agent.
According to a report from Marca, La Liga bigwigs Barcelona have no intentions of bringing back club legend Dani Alves, who is a free agent, to Camp Nou in a playing capacity.
Alves spent eight very successful years with Barcelona after joining the club from fellow La Liga outfit Sevilla in 2008. The Brazilian was an integral part of the glory that the Catalan giants achieved under Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, as he won six La Liga titles and three UEFA Champions League trophies, among various other honours.
Regarded as one of the greatest ever full-backs in the game, Alves left Barcelona in 2016, joining Juventus on a free transfer. He moved to Paris Saint-Germain a year later, enjoying a couple of successful seasons before returning to Brazil in 2019, signing for Sao Paulo. The 38-year-old spent a couple of campaigns with the club and has been a free agent since September.
Recent reports had indicated that Alves had offered his services to Barcelona, with claims from Brazil even going on to say that the player and the club were set for a meeting to hash out the details of a move.
The Catalans have never quite been able to fill the void left by the Brazilian’s departure back in 2016, with the likes of Nelson Semedo, Aleix Vidal, Sergi Roberto, Sergino Dest and Oscar Mingueza all being tried at right-back without much success. With Alves’s former teammate Xavi Hernandez recently appointed the manager, talks of a reunion gathered pace quite quickly.
However, those rumours have now been shot down by the report mentioned above. It claims that Barcelona have no intention whatsoever to bring Alves back to Camp Nou as a player. The new manager and the club hierarchy will instead be banking on young talent to get them out of the current malaise that they find themselves in.
The report does add that Alves remains a beloved figure at the club, and Barcelona might look to bring him back in a non-playing capacity in the near future. However, as things stand, the former Juventus and PSG right-back will not be signing a contract with the Catalans to return as a player.
