Former Barcelona star Dani Alves has spoken out about the current situation at Camp Nou, explaining that he believes that “before, Barça had an identity. Now it’s a buying and selling club.”
Alves is widely considered to be one of the best right-backs in recent history, and spent eight years with Barcelona after joining from Sevilla in 2008.
The Brazilian won six LaLiga titles in Catalonia, as well as four Copa del Reys, four Spanish Super Cups, three Champions Leagues, three Super Cups and three Club World Cups. He’s also earned over 100 caps with Brazil, winning both the Copa América and the Confederations Cup twice.
Speaking with Catalan radio station RAC1 and published in Marca, he explained his thoughts about his former club. “You have many valuable footballers, but none of them will defend your philosophy.
“Barcelona are trying to change their philosophy, and it’s normal that they have problems. For me, the club have lost their identity a little and they’re going to have to go through a hard process to recover it.”
Alves left Barcelona in 2016, representing Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain before returning to Brazil to play for the club he supported as a boy, São Paulo. It’s clear, however, that he would have stayed in Spain had he been given the chance.
“I would have stayed [at Barcelona] my whole life, but it was disrespectful to me that they wanted to throw me out the back door. If they had treated me as they should have, I would still be at Barcelona.
“I rejected a lot of money from Real Madrid – like it or not, a great club – to go to Camp Nou, and I didn’t want to fired. I wanted to be able to leave when I wanted to, but I knew they were pushing me out of the club.”
Image courtesy of Marca.
