Barcelona defender Dani Alves. (Photo : Getty Images)
FC Barcelona defender Dani Alves seems to be the next big-name football star that will move to China this winter transfer window as he has reportedly been offered a huge £27 million deal by a still unnamed Chinese club.
Daily Mail Online, citing Spanish media outlet Mundo Deportivo, reported that the 32-year-old right back was the latest European footballer to have been offered a deal by the "cash-rich Chinese Super League" in a proposal that is set to earn him around £9.2 million a year in wages.
The Chinese winter window extends up to Feb. 26, which means that a transfer deal could still be reached if the Blaugrana agrees to release Alves at this moment.
Alves, who joined Barça in July of 2008, is under contract at Camp Nou until 2017 and has the option to extend it for another year upon expiration. He has always been one of the favorite players of current head coach Luis Enrique and has seen regular first team time in the Spaniard's system.
There are no reports about the Brazilian's current intentions of leaving or staying at Camp Nou, but the highly lucrative offer from China may be difficult for him to pass up.
Bleacher Report indicated that while "the offer comes from an unspecified club" the speculated interested clubs are "Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua, and Jiangsu Suning".
In the past, the Chinese Super League has attracted big-name footballers who have been past their primes. This time, though, it was not the case.
CSL clubs have recently raided international talents at their prime, with Jiangsu Suning snagging Ramires from Chelsea for £25 million, Guangzhou Evergrande signing Jackson Martinez from Atletico Madrid for £31 million, and Jiangsu again acquiring Alex Teixeira from Shakhtar Donetsk for £38 million in multiple record-breaking deals in a span of two weeks.
Alves began his professional career in the Brazilian Serie B with Esporte Clube Bahia in 2001 before signing with La Liga squad Sevilla FC in 2002.
After six seasons with Los Rojiblancos, he completed an emotional move to Barça and has since been there. In eight seasons at the Nou Camp so far, he has appeared in a total of 374 games, scoring 21 times in all competitions mainly as a defender.
