Dani Alves has told Juventus he wants to leave amid interest from Manchester City. The 34-year-old is keen to link up there with Pep Guardiola, who managed him at Barcelona.
Alves’s agent had a meeting with Juventus on Monday and made the club aware of his client’s desire to move on. He is awaiting the go-ahead from the Italian champions to begin talks with City. Discussions are also planned with Chelsea but Alves’s preference is to move to the Etihad Stadium.
Alves won three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues during Guardiola's four years in charge at Camp Nou, between 2008-2012. The Brazilian is full of admiration for the 46-year-old, something that was made clear in an article he wrote for the Players' Tribune website in the build-up to the Champions League final earlier this month.
“If you turn the word ‘computer’ backwards, it spells ‘Steve Jobs’. If you turn the word ‘football’ backwards, it spells ‘Pep’,” wrote Alves “He is a genius. I’ll say it again. A genius.”
Juventus form
Alves has one year remaining on his contract at Juventus having moved there from Barcelona on a free transfer last summer. He initially struggled to make an impact in Turin and last November suffered a broken leg in a defeat at Genoa, which appeared to have brought his time at the club to a premature end.
But Alves recovered and went onto excel for Massimiliano Allegri’s side, proving an important figure in their clinching of another Serie A title and run to the Champions League final, where they lost to Real Madrid.
City believe a bid of around £5 million may be sufficient to secure a transfer and should they sign Alves it would be the club’s third acqusition of the summer, following on from that of Bernardo Silva from Monaco and the
Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson from Benfica.
– Guardian service.
