One that got away 🤦‍♂️: Dani Alves to Chelsea | OneFootball

It is the summer of 2007 and Dani Alves is one of the most coveted full-backs in European football.

Having just won the Uefa Cup, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup treble with Sevilla, Alves has caught the eye of Chelsea manager José Mourinho.

The Blues face competition from from Real Madrid for his signature but the Brazilian is said to prefer a move to west London.

And on 15 August 2007, the Guardian’s Sid Lowe goes so far as to write that: “Sevilla’s right-back Daniel Alves will become a Chelsea player today.

“The Brazilian international has already agreed terms and will swap Spanish football for Stamford Bridge in a deal that should be worth in excess of €30m (£21.5m).”

But to Alves’s dismay, that bid was in fact rejected by Sevilla president José María del Nido, and Chelsea withdrew their interest.

“It is the opportunity of a lifetime for me and I haven’t changed my opinion, I want to leave,” the full-back told Spanish media at the time.

“I’m disappointed the way I’ve been treated and I’ve given everything to this club. I expected a little more respect and the person who runs this club hasn’t given it to me.

“We agreed if a good offer arrived the club would look at it. I can’t set my price but I think an offer of €36m for a full back is acceptable.

“If I stay at Sevilla I won’t be happy because I will always have the feeling I have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Chelsea end up signing Juliano Belletti from Barcelona instead and in September 2007, manager Mourinho stuns the football world by leaving the club by mutual consent.

“I was going there to work with José,” Alves explained to Sky Sports in November 2018.

“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 José 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.”

After one more season at Sevilla, Alves moved to Barcelona in the summer of 2008, and he would go on to win an incredible 23 trophies during his eight years at Camp Nou.

“I remember the first chat we had,” Alves says of former Barça boss Pep Guardiola.

“From the first moment, he made it very, very, very, very, very clear what he wanted and why had had taken the job.

“He had a tremendous desire to do something different as a manager of that club. Obviously it was going to be a challenge, but I remember he said, ‘I can only do it if you follow me.’

“It didn’t turn out too badly for him, eh?”

How different things might have been for Chelsea and Mourinho if they’d only increased their offer and been able to convince Sevilla to part with Alves back in 2007.

And to make matters worse, that same summer the Blues also missed out on the chance to sign Roberto Carlos from Real Madrid.

“I spoke to Roman Abramovich about it. We had a meeting in Paris, but it didn’t happen due to a few small factors,” Carlos revealed in 2017.

Alves and Carlos in the Premier League would have been a lot of fun, but it sadly wasn’t to be.