Dani Alves left the Camp Nou five years ago, a tricky Brazilian who looked like he was starting to run out of tricks. Since then, Barcelona has worked hard to find a player that would be a lock on the team sheet at the right-back spot.
Aleix Vidal, Nelson Semedo, Moussa Wagué, Sergiño Dest, and Emerson. Five right-backs that cost the club a total of 93.7 million euros, all in the hopes of finding someone to dislodge Sergi Roberto from his starting role along Barça’s backline. Now, as has been the joke for a few days now – Barcelona has finally replaced Dani Alves with Dani Alves. But taking this signing out of jest, the idea that the 38-year-old will step right back into the Blaugrana’s right-back position oversimplifies what could be a complicated signing.
One exception is that the financial portion of the signing doesn’t seem too complicated. Alves, a free agent since September, is willing to take an inexpensive one-year deal to return to the club. He’s also willing to wait until the new year to get registered with La Liga so he can actually play. If some reports are to be believed, he’s arriving on just €1 per week. The irony of Alves not worrying too much about his salary is that he left his most recent and boyhood club, São Paulo, over delayed salary payments. The Brazilian side owed him about $2 million.
The return to Barcelona is likely not about the money for Dani Alves, but rather status. Even languishing in the middle of the La Liga table, a player is more likely to be talked about as a full international if they’re wearing the colors of one of the biggest clubs in the world. If Gavi were playing for even Real Betis, would he have been called up to the Spanish national team? That seems to be the calculation that Alves is taken into account – perform well for Barcelona and potentially remain in the picture for the World Cup in Qatar next winter. It seems like a ways away, but Alves did just win Olympic gold this past summer and a one-year deal with Barcelona will perfectly coincide with the next major tournament, though the club has announced that the deal at the moment would end at the conclusion of the current season.
For as much as Alves may get out of re-signing, the real question is what the club and new manager Xavi will get out of the equation. He is no longer the spry central midfielder that was arguably the best player in La Liga for Sevilla back in 2008 when he came to the Camp Nou. 23 years trophies later, he had cemented himself as one of the best right-backs of all-time. Yet, he did show some decline in his last two seasons in Catalonia, and Father Time continued his partnership with the Brazilian at both Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.
When he returned to Brazil in 2019 though, he was still capable of being the most important player in a game in the Brazilian league. His versatility was such that last season in 22 appearances he managed to play as the right midfielder, attacking midfielder, central midfielder, defensive midfielder, and right-back for São Paulo. It was more telling however that he played every minute of the Olympics for Brazil as a right-back and more importantly, as the captain.
The addition of Dani Alves will hopefully check two boxes. The essential one is that of a strong voice in the dressing room. No player has won more trophies than Dani Alves in world football, and adding that competitive fire to the locker room isn’t a bad thing. If the Brazilian can be the leader that his reputation indicates that he can be, this signing will pay dividends in the long run. Under the watchful eye of Xavi, he should serve as a mentor to Dest, Óscar Mingueza, and anyone else who might listen.
The bigger question mark is for that second box – where and for how much will he actually play? When January comes, there will be a better idea of where Barça sit in the Champions or Europa League and how possible a top four finish in La Liga still is. If Ousmane Dembélé can’t stay fit and Xavi doesn’t trust Dest, would Alves be the option on the wing? Or will his inclusion at right-back convince Xavi to play a flat four at the back? The idea that Dani Alves is going to come in and automatically start at right-back in a 4-3-3 stinks of naivety. More likely, the record-breaking winner is doing a favor for a friend to come and be on the fringes of a team that desperately needs to get out of a losing funk, all while putting himself on display for the Brazilian national team. If that’s the criteria to this signing, this should be a win-win for club and player.
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017
