Dani Alves left Juventus after a successful one-year spell with the Turin side. The 34-year-old has put numerous clubs on alert owing to his superb form for the Italian side and showing no signs of slowing down despite being on the wrong side of 30.
Heavily linked with Guardiola’s Manchester City, it was understood the Brazilian would be keen on a reunion with his former boss. Guardiola’s preference for attacking full-backs makes him an obvious choice in Pep’s setup owing to the defender’s precise passing in the final third. Alves is one of the rare commodities in world football today who are adept at playing in the evolved full-back role. He can carry the ball forward as well as provide a solid ballast to the team’s defensive line.
Allegedly on the radar of London clubs, Chelsea and Tottenham, Dani Alves has an array of options to choose from in England. Tottenham, set to lose Kyle Walker to Manchester City, could be looking into the availability of the Brazilian. Although City are favourites to snap up the 34-year-old, the London lifestyle could appeal to the defender, who is arguably at the fag end of his career.
City are reportedly looking to bring in as many as 4 full-backs this summer and are currently pursuing AS Monaco’s Benjamin Mendy besides Kyle Walker and Alves. In a season which was defined by Antonio Conte’s shift to a 3-4-3, and subsequent Premier League win, the importance of full-backs wasn’t lost on anybody especially Guardiola who would want to prove his doubters wrong after an underwhelming season with The Citizens.
Chelsea are also looking to shore up their defence and are understandably also queuing up for the Brazilian’s signature. Chelsea’s full-backs last season were over exerted, playing almost all the games since the switch to a 3-man defence, due to a lack of adequate bench strength in those areas. With Champions League duties resuming this season, Conte would want to address one of the most crucial areas of Chelsea’s gameplay.
The Blues are desperately after the signature of Alex Sandro and Real Madrid’s Danilo to make up for any deficiency in attacking intent arising out of their overly defensive midfield. The midfield pairing of Kante and Bakayoko could make Chelsea almost impenetrable, but the Italian doesn’t want that at the cost of Chelsea surrendering their superiority in the final third. Adequately supplied by the likes of Sandro/Alonso and Moses/Danilo, a Chelsea team in full swing next season, would be a very scary proposition for most teams around the world.
Although Antonio Conte might not be too keen on the defender, in the event Chelsea fail to land Danilo from Real, Alves could provide the perfect cover to Victor Moses.
With PSG also lurking, the former Barcelona player has no dearth of suitors. A comparatively easier League and the lure of Paris could see the defender ply his trade in Ligue 1 come August.
