Madrid Sabotaged Alves Chelsea Move

[Del Juve 1]

What did happen when Chelsea tried to buy Daniel Alves? The player's agent has spilled the beans on the botched transaction, in which Sevilla turn out to be very greedy … and a third party, Real Madrid, a bunch of spoilers.

Over the summer, we heard snippets as to what was happening with Chelsea's pursuit of Sevilla's rather fine right-back, Daniel Alves. At one point an agreement was announced … only to be denied by Chelsea. In the coming days, Sevilla declared that Chelsea's offer was well below their evaluation of the player. In the end, Chelsea simply became fed up, and purchased Julian Belletti, from Barça, instead.

And now Daniel Alves' agent, José Rodríguez Baster (or Rodri) has revealed the gaps in this account. They paint a picture of greed and incompetence whereby Sevilla managed to shoot themselves in the foot.

Speaking to a radio station, Punto Radio, Rodri stated that '10 days before the end of the transfer window, a deal was agreed with Chelsea, but suddenly Real Madrid burst in. [sevilla President José Maria] Del Nido saw that he could obtain more money, and raised the price. Consequently Chelsea dropped out, whereas Real Madrid were not prepared to pay what Del Nido was asking. Both clubs withdrew'.

Rodri added that 'Del Nido was coherent, he didn't want to sell Alves. Del Nido considers that to grow, he needs to have the best players in the world, and Daniel is one of them. The situation was complex as Daniel wants to continue growing, although staying in Sevilla is no shame. There was no will to sell on Del Nido's part, even though he kept his word and listened to offers.'

As the player's agent, Rodri clearly has to cover all bases and keep a good relationship with everybody. One can, however, imagine his frustration, as well as that of Alves: Alves made no secret before, during and after this botched transfer that he felt it was time to leave Sevilla to go to a bigger club.

Alves was not picky: he stated that he would be happy playing either at Real Madrid or at Chelsea, although he also said that he was keen for 'an English adventure'. So when an agreement was reached with Chelsea, bearing in mind what a tough negotiator is José Maria Del Nido, it must have been a relief.

What must have been a severe blow is that, with both clubs keen on the player, the half-arsed attempt by Real Madrid resulted in Del Nido becoming greedy, breaking his word, and that Chelsea (clearly annoyed at having Sevilla break an agreement in principle) withdrew. One can barely imagine Alves' dismay, then, when Real Madrid failed to follow up on their interest and place an offer on the table at the level of Del Nido's bloated expectations. Small wonder that, upon his return to Spain, Alves was pictured frequently with a face like thunder.

The net result must be gratifying for Del Nido, who never wanted to sell Alves. For the player himself, who missed out on his dream move, it must have been devastating. Congratulations to José Maria Del Nido, whose greed broke the player's dream, not to mention Real Madrid, for being so cack-handed with other team's players. Suddenly the €36 million for which we sold Arjen Robben to Madrid doesn't seem enough.