One of Paris Saint-Germain’s biggest stars admitted in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports that he was all set to join the Blues before the West London pulled out of a potential deal.
The man who was so close to joining Chelsea is none other than Dani Alves – the 35-year-old has lifted more trophies than any other active player in the world.
In the summer of 2007 following Sevilla’s superb treble winning season which saw the Andalusian side lift the UEFA Cup, Copa Del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup Alves was linked with a move away given his impressive performances.
Alves told Sky Sports this on the potential move to Chelsea in 2007:
“I was this close.”
“I didn’t go to Chelsea because of the club, not because of me,”
“I thought it was done, that I was going there to work with him (Mourinho),”
Alves adds that the breakdown of his transfer to Chelsea led to a strained relationship with Jose Mourinho:
“I don’t know if he got different information, that I didn’t want to go or whatever, because since then our relationship hasn’t been so good, but it wasn’t my fault. I was convinced that I was going to work with him and form part of his team.”
Chelsea were certainly made to rue their decision not to sign Alves, the Brazilian left Sevilla for Barcelona in the summer of 2008 and went on to go down as one of football’s most decorated players ever.
After three seasons of success passed Alves then went from nearly playing under Mourinho to becoming part of Guardiola’s side who proved to be a major hurdle for Mourinho.
Mourinho became Real Madrid manager in the summer of 2010 and the Portuguese was bested to domestic and European honours by his foe Guardiola for the most part of his time managing Los Blancos.
Chelsea fans can only imagine the success they could have had if the club didn’t back away from a deal with Alves.
