Liverpool’s attempts to grab Sevilla’s Daniel Alves are still ongoing, and the Reds are closer than ever to catching their man.
Rafa has him down as his main target for the summer, and Liverpool have provisionally agreed personal terms with him with Sevilla’s blessing. Unfortunately though the clubs are still not quite meeting each other as far as price is concerned.
Liverpool’s bid was originally believed to be £7m, with an increased offer of £8m turned down. Sevilla originally wanted £12m, later dropping down as far as £10m. So they are getting closer, but not yet close enough.
Now the player’s agent has spoken out to make sure the media know what the player wants. Jose Rodriguez Baster says that Alves wants to join the Reds and nobody else, despite some interest from elsewhere: “I can say that, without any doubts, the player wants to go to Liverpool. Personally I have not listened to any other club, although some have rung and I have passed them on to Sevilla, but what Daniel wants to is to play for Liverpool.”
The fact Alves only wants to join the Reds means Sevilla are going to find it harder to start a bidding war, and so the price should eventually be more to Liverpool’s liking than Sevilla’s. Their president, Jose Maria del Nido, had already spoken about Liverpool’s interest in Alves: “We don’t want to sell him but when a player wants to leave you can’t force him to stay. He has told us he likes Liverpool’s offer though he isn’t pressuring us. They have come back to us with a new offer but we have rejected it.”
Baster responded to these comments: “The two sides are getting closer, we are still quite a way apart, but if the president of Sevilla has said this who am I to contradict it. Daniel was not looking to leave Sevilla, but there are times when – without actually having forced the issue – you want to improve yourself.”
Ensuring that the supporters don’t fall out with Alves is important too – in case the deal falls through – so the agent continued: “Daniel is very happy here with the fans, the club and with everything, but every player in the world always wants to play for a bigger club, it’s not that Sevilla aren’t big.”
So how much longer could this go on? He said: “I don’t think I can give a timescale for this because there are differences, but we’ll see.”