July 12, 2017 - 18:56 AMT
Dani Alves picks Paris Saint-Germain over Manchester City

Dani Alves has signed for Paris Saint-Germain on a two-year deal – news that will dismay Pep Guardiola, who had made the Brazil full-back his main target for Manchester City’s right-back position and had an agreement in principle with the 34-year-old, The Guardian reports.

PSG were able to convince the Juventus and former Barcelona defender to join them and offered significantly more money than City – £230,000-a-week rather than the Premier League club’s offer of around £120,000. The deal was confirmed at a press conference in Paris on Wednesday.

Alves told PSG’s website: “I am extremely pleased to join. In recent years I have been able to watch from outside the tremendous growth of this club, which has become a force in European football. It is very exciting to be a part of this great project.

“At all the clubs where I’ve played I’ve always given my best to help my teams go as high as possible. Believe me, I also come to Paris to win. I know the ambitions of my new club and the expectations of its many supporters throughout the world.”

Alves won 23 trophies at Barcelona – with three European Cups and six La Liga titles. He was one of Guardiola’s first signings, arriving from Sevilla in 2008, and recently described his former manager as a “genius”.

He joined Juventus last summer after eight years at Barcelona and contributed significantly to the team’s progress to the Champions League final, where they lost to Real Madrid. In the 4-1 aggregate semi-final win against Monaco Alves created three of Juventus’ four goals and scored the other.

Photo. Carl Recine/Reuters