Dani Alves is currently without a job after completing his short second stint back at Barcelona after playing in the first six months of 2022. His contract wasn’t extended by the club a month ago, and the Brazilian’s journey at the Camp Nou is now officially over.
And while he remains grateful for the opportunity to return, Alves didn’t hold back on his feelings in regards to the way he left. Speaking to The Guardian this week, Dani had harsh words to say about the overall state of the club, not only when it came to how his departure was handled but the general way in which business is conducted in the Catalan capital these days.
“I didn’t leave sad. I left happy to have returned to Barcelona. I dreamed for five years wanting to live this second moment. The only thing I didn’t like was how my departure was handled.
“Since I arrived, I made it very clear that I wasn’t any more a 20-year-old guy and that I wanted things to be done head-on, without hiding things. But this club has sinned in recent years. Barcelona don’t care about the people who made history for the club. As a Culé, I would like Barcelona to do things differently. I’m not talking about myself because my situation was another scenario. I am eternally grateful to Xavi and the president for bringing me back.
“I found a club full of young people with incredible ideas on the pitch. But it needs to improve the work outside the field. The mindset is totally opposite to what we built a few years ago. Everything that happens on the field is a reflection of what happens outside.
“I’m supporting for Barcelona to come back to the top, but it’s super-complicated. Football is more balanced, it’s a collective game. And that has been left out at the club.”
Source: The Guardian
Those are certainly strong words, and they carry a whole other level of weight when they come from someone who’s done as much for the club as Dani has. And it’s really hard to argue with his comments.
The institution has literally and figuratively deteriorated before our very eyes over the last decade, with Josep Maria Bartomeu’s presidency destroying almost everything the club was supposed to stand for while Joan Laporta hasn’t exactly done the greatest job ever in his first year in charge.
It will take time to be More Than A Club again. If that’s even achievable. And Dani’s words pretty much echo that sentiment.
What do you think about Alves’ comments, Barça fans?
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