Daniel Alves da Silva was born on the 6 May 1983 in Juazeiro, Brazil. He is more commonly referred to as Dani Alves and known for his blistering pace and attacking runs he makes up the right wing from his right-back position.
Alves began his profesional carrer playing with Esporte Clube Bahia in Brazil in 2001 with which he won the Campeonato do Nordeste 2002 before being loaned out to Sevilla in Spain for the 2002-2003 season. His position at Sevilla was cemented when was named the third best player of the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship while playing for Brazil.
After impressing the Sevilla fans with some amazing defensive and offensive play, Alves' contract was extended to 2012.
In his final season for the Andalucians in 2006-2007, he featured in 47 matches and found the net on 5 occasions. Alves was rewarded for his hard work with Sevilla as they went on to win two UEFA Cups, a UEFA Super Cup, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup in which Sevilla memorably humiliated Real Madrid 5-3 at the Bernabeau.
During his time with Sevilla, Alves was also awarded Spanish Citizenship, allowing him to play outside of the non-European Union quota restrictions and to play for any team in Europe without having to apply for a work permit.
On the 1 August 2007, Alves spoke to the media about his desire to leave Sevilla to play for a "European Giant". Chelsea was the first club to show any interest, with Alves replying that he was "flattered by their interest and could never turn down such an opportunity.".
Alves managed to agree personal terms with the London Blues only to see his dream of playing for an European giant club shattered as Sevilla rejected the bid. Sevilla club president José María Del Nido later informed Alves that he believed that the offers were too low despite receiving another two offers from chelsea within seven days of their initial bid.
Sevilla's unwillingness to let Alves go saw Stamford Bridge fill the right-back position with Juliano Belletti from Barcelona who is well known to Barca fans as the man who scored the 2006 Champions League winning goal against Arsenal.
Despite a public war of words between Alves and Del Nido, Alves looked set to stay at Sevilla following the death of defensive team-mate Antonio Puerta early in 2007-2008 campaign.
At the end of the 2007-2008 season, FC Barcelona, on a mission to remake the team after another disasterous season, wasted little time in recruiting Dani Alves to the right-back position to replace Gianluca Zambrotta who had returned to Italy to play for AC Milan. Alves was by then considered to be one of the best right-back players in the world and was viewed as a solid addition to a crumbling Barca defense. Alves, known for making attacking runs up the right wing, is expected to connect very well with the Barca prodigy known as Lionel Messi who plays as a right-forward. Their ability to combine, make overlapping runs with each other and to produce the quick one-two's that Deco used to be so good at, has been demonstrated well in the few matches in which they played together during the Barcelona pre-season tour of Scotland and Italy.
Leaving Sevilla was no easy task for the 25 year old Alves who wept his way out of the door stating that he "came to Sevilla as a boy and is now leaving as a man".
The official price of the transfer stands at €29 million up front, with €6 million more to pay depending on a number of performance related factors over the next few seasons of Alves' Barcelona career, making Alves the world's most expensive right-back. It is a four year contract with a €90 million buy-out clause.
From the pre-season alone we have seen Alves' dedication to his new team, he is quick, determined and seems to just keep running and running. He has also shown that he is able to play well on the right with fellow newbie Aliksander Hleb.
