Dani Alves: Barcelona legend is the most successful player in football history | OneFootball

Dani Alves is heading back to Barcelona.

Barca have reached an agreement to re-sign the 38-year-old - five years after he left the Camp Nou.

In a statement, the club described the Brazilian as the “greatest right back in Barcelona history.”

They added: "The Brazilian will be joining training from next week but will not be able to play until January.”

by writing a statement of his own.

Dani Alves reacts to Barca return on Instagram

It read: “Almost 5 years fighting like crazy to get to that moment. I didn’t know it would last that long, I didn’t know it would be so difficult, but I knew within my heart and within my soul that this day would come,” he said.

“I return home from where I never leave and as I said before I left; I AM ONE OF YOU, I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG THAT DREAM WILL LAST, BUT MAY IT BE ETERNAL WHILE IT LASTS !! See you soon where it fascinates me the most, with the same enthusiasm as the first time and with the same desire to help rebuild THE BEST CLUB IN THE WORLD !! I’m going to back to my house fckkkk!!”

Obviously an incredible player during his prime but what does a 38-year-old Alves offer?

Well, one thing he offers is the ability to win trophies.

Alves is the most successful player in the history of football, as confirmed by a graphic by Goal.

It shows he’s claimed 42 trophies - a tally that looks unlikely to be beaten any time soon.

Messi is second, currently, four trophies behind the Brazilian after his Copa America win in the summer. He’ll likely add a couple more to that this season at Paris Saint-Germain.

Maxwell is in third winning trophies at Ajax, Inter, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain during his career.

Level with Maxwell on 37 trophies is former Barcelona teammate, Andres Iniesta, helped by his nine La Liga titles.

Making up the top five is Ryan Giggs thanks to 13 Premier Leagues and 10 Community Shields.

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Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish is one behind having won everything there is to win with the club during the 80s.

Gerard Pique is on the same number of trophies as Dalglish due to his successful career with Barcelona and Spain.

Pique is one ahead of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won silverware at Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Portugal.

But Ronaldo isn’t the only Portuguese player to have won 34 trophies in their career. Legendary goalkeeper, Vítor Baía, has also achieved that - mostly at Porto but he also won five trophies in a two-season spell at Barcelona.

Barca manager Xavi makes up the top 10 most successful footballers of all time with 33 trophies while the evergreen Zlatan Ibrahimovic has 31 to his name.

Can Alves add to his incredibly tally now that he’s returned to Barcelona?

Xavi will certainly be hoping so.