FC Barcelona is pleased to announce an agreement with Dani Alves to extend his contract with the club for another three seasons, until June 30, 2015.
The document will be signed on Wednesday at around 19.00. There will then be a photograph session
open to the media by the doors to the FC Barcelona offices.
“The news we were all hoping for”
Sports director Andoni Zubizarreta spoke about Alves’ new deal thus:
“This is the news we were all hoping for, both the club and player. The negotiations were
long but never tense and his performances on the pitch have been as good as ever. We have taken our
time and we can finally announce that we have achieved the objective we set out to achieve”.
Zubi explained that “the contract will be until June 2015. We are convinced that Dani
is able to stay on and that he is fit enough. We are all happy with him. We have found the
balancing point between the years and the figures and so we were able to close the renewal deal to
all of our satisfactions”.
Unique full back
“We always say that Barça has a very defined style and way of playing. Our
philosophy has always been to go first for local talent, and also that any players that come from
outside have to be able to make us ever better. Dani is a clear example of that.” The Basque
had no end of praise for the Brazilian: “Alves is a different kind of player, he brings us a
special dynamic, physique, ability to move up, developed skills … but most of all it’s
the way he can change a game. He plays with an intensity that has nothing to do with tactics but is
more about spirit. Alves had everything. We have looked at the market and there is nobody like him,
he’s unique in his position”.
Now on to Pinto and Abidal
To end, Zubizarreta said that “one of our aims was to close this deal before
the end of the season … Now we need to to settle terms with Pinto, but most of all, getting
Abidal back for the final would be the best spring signing we could make. We want to plan sporting
issues as calmly as we possibly can”.