Dani Alves to stay at Barcelona till 2017

32-year old Brazil international right back, Dani Alves’s contract at Barcelona was due to expire at the end of this month. Alves was linked to various top clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool but he has signed a new two-year contract with Barcelona and decided to stay with them for two more seasons till June 2017.

Alves’ latest tweet was “I have followed my heart and the hearts of those who love me.”

Dani Alves joined Barcelona from Sevilla in 2008. He has made 218 appearances since, netting in 14 goals in the time. Alves has won five La Liga titles and three Copa Del Rey titles with Barcelona and has also been part of two treble winning campaigns.

Dani Alves’ teammates were happy to hear this news and also stated this publicly. Barcelona’s left back Jordi Alba said “I’m really happy Alves is staying. He is a great professional and a great person.”

This news is definitely the result of a sudden change of mind because a few weeks ago, Alves had said that he didn’t feel ‘respected’.

Also, on Monday, Barcelona signed 25-year old, right winger who can also play as a right back, Aleix Vidal from Sevilla, who was in splendid form this season and was also a part of the UEFA Europa 2015 winning squad, for an initial fee of £13m. This raised questions if Alves were to stay at Barcelona or not. But Vidal will not be able to play for the champions until January 2016, because of a transfer ban imposed by FIFA for breaching rules on the transfer of players aged under 18. Barcelona had appealed against this ban but failed because of which, as told by Daniel Alves, they agreed to give Alves an extension. Vidal is happy that Alves is staying and says that he respects the healthy competition that will be there between them in the future.