Dani Alves leaves Juventus by mutual consent, set for Manchester City or Chelsea — reports

Let’s start off by acknowledging that Dani Alves probably isn’t coming to Chelsea — the Pep Guardiola reunion angle at Manchester City is surely the more appealing of the two likeliest outcomes at this point — but if he did, that would be pretty cool. Alves was deployed strategically in some of Juventus’s biggest games last season and did remarkably well, and I could see a similar arrangement and rotation with Victor Moses working to Chelsea’s advantage on the right flank as well.

That said, Dani Alves simply quitting Juventus didn’t look all that likely a few weeks ago either, and yet that’s just exactly what he’s done. Well, a mutual termination, if we want to get technical.

Albuquerque’s report followed rumors earlier in the day about Juventus working on said mutual termination with Dani Alves. It’s not something that’s seen very often; Alves thus foregoes the final year of the two-year deal he signed with Juventus last summer while the club thus receive zero compensation for the player.

Chelsea interest was first rumored on the day of the Champions League final, where Alves ended up on the losing end, and then quickly petered out. City seem well ahead, and have offered a two-year deal already, at €5m-a-year net (so something like £160-170k per week assuming a 50 per cent tax rate), to the 34-year-old.

But until pens are put to paper, Chelsea could still be in with a chance, so we’ll keep half-an-eye on it.