Dani Alves is set to play his 600th game in Spanish football on Wednesday when Barcelona play their third match in 10 days against neighbours Espanyol.
As his teammate Lionel Messi was crowned Ballon d'Or winner for the fifth time on Monday, Alves was one of four Barca players named in Fifa FifPro XI for 2015 in Zurich. The Brazilian defender hit a sweet spot of form early in 2015 and carried on playing like the world's best right-back as the Catalans won every competition they entered. Cynics suggested that he was playing for a new contract, doubly motivated by the lack of significant offers from other clubs and Barca's own reluctance to meet his demands.
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Glitz and glamour at Ballon d’Or as Lionel Messi wins fifth player title – in pictures
Alves was so good, a one man right wing, that his club succumbed to his contract demands the day after his side had lifted a fifth European Cup in Berlin. He chose to fight that battle not in the media, where he did not once speak to journalists – though he did sing for them when approached at Barcelona airport – but by using his performances. He was also backed by friends in high places.
Having Messi onside and fighting his corner helped him get a new two-year contract, with an option of a third year. Despite Barca’s wages spiralling to an unsustainable 73 per cent of their total revenue, no club president wanted to go against the demands of their top players and fans.
Alves has been a superb servant to his Spanish clubs, representing Sevilla 230 times and 369 for Barca. As he recently posted on social media, no player has been on a winning team against Real Madrid as often as he. He knows his value and, at 32, wanted one last big contract.
Barca think they have already signed his long-term replacement, the Catalan Aleix Vidal, but Alves remains the undisputed No 1 and his stock is much higher with fans than a year ago. He was applauded when he replaced Vidal in Saturday’s win over Granada.
Why? As well as putting in top performances, Alves has become as outspoken as his dress sense. After the Ballon d'Or ceremony he said that Neymar should have finished ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.
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On Friday he described all journalists as "rubbish" in terms so strong that his club distanced themselves from his offensive comments and asked him to remove the expletives. Barca are efficient in their dealings with the media, sending out around six press releases per day with updates, but the relationship between players and the Spanish media is often strained. Alves had previously endeared himself to fans by calling the Madrid-supporting daily Marca rubbish and refuses to speak to journalists from certain newspapers. He called them out in a press conference.
Alves is entitled to his opinion, but to label all journalists as rubbish is like calling all footballers rubbish. They are not. This journalist has spent hours in Alves’s company when he was a cogent interviewee with a great back story. There was no hint of antagonism, though it probably helped that it was not for a Spanish publication.
I also interviewed Luis Enrique before he became Barca coach and he too could not be bothered with the hassle of his words being twisted by the Spanish media and so chose to do no interviews with them. Even now, Enrique keeps a distance.
It is a shame because he is a fascinating subject when he opens up. In interviews with former Barca players this season, they have specifically requested not to talk about current players for fear of their words being twisted. The mistrust is clear, but then Alex Ferguson, Manchester United’s legendary manager, was often more open with foreign publications which he held in a higher esteem than those closest to home.
Messi and next generation of Barcelona players could find money on offer in England too good to resist
The internet’s traffic would dip significantly if it did not carry stories about Lionel Messi’s future. He is linked with an English club regularly as the financial dynamic shifts in favour of Premier League teams.
Already this season we are seeing stories linking Bournemouth with AC Milan players, but the real changes will begin with the next television contracts which begin in August 2016. English teams may underperform in European competition and the technical level is still well short of that in Spain, but even the smallest Premier League clubs will be able to outspend huge La Liga clubs such as Sevilla or Valencia.
The biggest Premier League teams fully expect to be able to outspend Barcelona and Real Madrid – and the Spanish clubs know it. They are doing all they can to maximise their own revenues. Given the football they play, Barcelona should be far more attractive to sponsors, yet Manchester United still have superior revenues.
The struggling English giants believe that a player will be transferred for £200 million (just over Dh1 billion) within five years, and that they will be able to pay that kind of money.
If Messi wants to earn even more money towards the end of his career, England is his best destination.
When Messi reiterated “I want to stay here forever” in Zurich at as he collected a fifth Ballon d’Or award, he meant Barcelona not the Kongresshaus of Switzerland’s biggest city. “I want to finish my career at home; and my home is Barcelona.”
He is keen to stay where he is loved, but as Messi himself said in the same speech, “Football has many twists”. He was not being cryptic, more referencing how a year ago he and his team were being criticised and yet ended up winning everything. Messi is speaking from a position of strength, but that will change with age.
Messi and his people agitate for an improved contract almost on an annual basis and, naturally, they usually get it. But what happens if he gets offered twice what Barcelona can pay? Or three times? It is not inconceivable.
Messi probably will stay at Barcelona and it is not like he is short of money, nor only motivated by it. He has a house by the beach in a city he has called home for over half his life. He is 29 in June and he has just been crowned the best player in the world.
Spanish-speaking players would rather live by the beach in Spain than by the Ship Canal in Manchester, while Barca and Madrid hold the greatest allure for most footballers, but money plays a part.
Barcelona’s real problem is likely not to be with Messi, but with stopping their stars from the next generation going to England.
Player of the week
Messi scored the 25th hat-trick of his Barcelona career against Granada as Barca's forwards cut the Andalusians down to size. But he loses out to Gareth Bale, who also scored a hat-trick to make it eight goals from his last four league games for Real Madrid. Bale is finally starting to feel the love of the Bernabeu crowd.
Games of the week
Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao These two teams meet for the fifth time in eight months. The Basques lost last season's Copa del Rey final, but won the traditional curtain-raiser Spanish Super Cup. They were also narrowly defeated 1-0 in the first game of the season at San Mames.
Sevilla v Malaga Another intriguing game. The Andalusian sides have both hit form with Malaga surging from bottom of the table to 10th in recent weeks. Sevilla are excellent at home and have defeated all the big teams there.
What else?
The ever-charismatic Pepe Mel was sacked again by Real Betis, who have picked up only a point from their past five matches and are slipping down the Primera Liga table. Mel had been in charge for 14 months in his second spell at the club and found out that he had been dismissed via Twitter the day after his side lost 1-0 at Getafe.
Mel led Betis to the second division title last season, but they had won only one game at home this term, the worst record in the league. They say never go back, but Mel, who was a legend as a Betis player, has always done things his way. On Saturday, he said: “If Real Betis sack me, no problem.” They did just that, after a five-hour board meeting on Monday.
Despite a flurry of positive stories in the often-hostile Valencian press, Gary Neville has yet to win in his opening five league games in charge. Three draws and a narrow defeat at Villarreal was an understandable return for the new manager of an injury-hit team, but Valencia faded badly in the second half on Sunday as they were beaten 2-0 by a Real Sociedad side winning only their third home game of the season.
Michu, a Premier League player with Swansea City only three years ago, played his first game at the weekend after over a year out with an injured ankle which needed several operations. The Premier League’s top scorer at Christmas 2012, the 29-year-old striker has dropped down to play for regional Spanish fourth division team Union Popular de Langreo close to his home in Asturias. He wants to rebuild his career from the bottom at the semi-professional club who attracts crowds of 400. His ankle may not allow him to continue playing, but for now he is back and featured in two games over four days.
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