MANCHESTER CITY pulled the plug on their pursuit of Dani Alves because they would not match Paris St Germain’s eye-watering £25m wage offer to the Brazilian veteran.
City boss Pep Guardiola was confident of landing Alves, 34, on a free transfer from Juventus and the player himself was understood to be keen on a reunion with the manager he worked under for four highly-successful years at Barcelona.
But PSG gazumped City by offering Alves a two-year deal believed to be worth £240,000-a-week that he found too good to refuse as he approaches the twilight years of his career.
City sources say they were not prepared to match those figures because of Alves’ age and the fact that he would not be a regular starter if Guardiola lands his No 1 right back target Kyle Walker.
Manchester City have been trying to reduce their wage bill in recent years and if they had matched PSG’s offer it would have put Alves in the top bracket of earners at the Etihad.
Guardiola is understood to be disappointed to miss out on a player he knows well and who he felt would have given City experienced cover at right back.
But he has backed City’s decision not to blow their wage structure wide open and the club will now step up their attempts to prise long-term target Walker from Tottenham.
But they are are a long way from reaching a compromise figure with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. He wants £50m for the England international – around £10m more than City’s valuation.
Meanwhile, Alves is scheduled to be unveiled by PSG at a press conference this afternoon.
Source:www.express.co.uk