Dani Alves, former full-back for Barcelona and currently at Juventus, has strongly criticized the Camp Nou board members. Alves says that the lack of respect he was shown by Barcelona convinced him to move to the Italian champions last year.
Alves enjoyed great success at Barcelona, winning an incredible 23 titles in all competitions. For most of his time at the Camp Nou, Alves was one of the most important players. However, among reports of souring relations with the club, he left on a free transfer to Juventus last year.
He discussed his issues with the Spanish side during an interview the newspaper ABC. Among other things, Alves touches upon the topic of his contract extension in 2014. The player says a registration ban as a result of breaking FIFA rules concerning signing young players, finally conviced Barcelona to offer him a new contract.
“I like being loved and if they do not want me, I’m leaving,“, said the 33-year-old full back.
Former Barcelona full-back Dani Alves strongly criticized the La Liga side for what he considered disrespectful treatment. According to him this triggered the desire to leave Barcelona for a new challenge.
“During my last three seasons I always heard that Alves was leaving but the management never said anything to me. They were very false and ungrateful. They did not respect me. They only offered me a renewal because of the FIFA transfer ban.”
“That’s when I played their game and signed a renewal, which included a clause that allowed me to leave for free a year later. The people who run Barcelona have no idea how to treat their players.”
Barcelona received criticism for their transfer policy recently. Investments in transferring new players has not meant bringing in a specialist right-back to replace Alves. The recent harsh defeat of 4-0 against PSG, has opened new discussions about the value of current Barcelona defenders.
Furthermore, Barcelona supporters have expressed their disenchantment with the team. During their unimpressive 2-1 victory over Leganes in La Liga, home fans booed loudly.
Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen had this to say: “”I don’t understand it, the most important thing is that we have won after a very difficult week for everyone“.
Dani Alves believes some of the bad atmosphere is a consequence of Spanish journalism. He also singled out the desire of Barcelona to outdo their rivals Real Madrid as a factor contributing to the stress.
“I just do not like them inventing things, manipulating and creating bad moods – I am referring to the sports press in Madrid and Barcelona,” Alves added.
“They do bar journalism, social media journalism. They are only interested in morbidity and that’s not telling the truth. They have to respect us. Behind the footballer, there is a human being.”
