CITY FURIOUS & FLAPPING AFTER ALVES SNUB

GUARDIOLA & MAN CITY LEFT FURIOUS & FLAPPING AFTER DRAMATIC DANI ALVES U-TURN
Sam Lee
07:00
The Brazilian had agreed a two-year deal to join Manchester City and was allowed to enjoy his holidays in peace, but secretly decided to sign for PSG
SPECIAL REPORT
On July 7, Pep Guardiola had lunch with Dani Alves in Barcelona and talked about the future of Manchester City. At around lunchtime on July 11, City officials were still expecting Alves to board their flight to the United States at the start of next week. A few hours later, Alves was having a medical at Paris Saint-Germain.

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It was the prospect of joining up with Guardiola at City which led to Alves becoming free to decide his own future in the first place. The Brazilian had had his head turned by the idea of playing for his old boss one last time and Juventus, extremely graciously it must be said, liberated him from his contract.

Like the majority of City's other transfer targets this summer, the 34-year-old had already agreed to the terms of a contract and, with Juve willing to release him, he was all set to become the Blues' third signing of the summer.

Compared to negotiating multi-million pound deals for various other targets, it all seemed very easy. Alves was on holiday in Brazil as Juve took a little time to finalise his exit and nobody in Manchester felt in any particular rush to put pen to paper. Some at City hoped the right-back would be at the training ground at the end of June, but of course there was the small matter of Lionel Messi's wedding.

Last week, as Guardiola prepared to return to Manchester for pre-season, he met with Alves in Barcelona to talk about his plans for the rest of the summer and beyond.

The pair discussed the club's transfer strategy, including the progress of their move for Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez. It is not known whether Alves casually mentioned that he was actually going to sign for PSG, but given nobody at City seemed worried by reports which emerged on Saturday about a last-minute, dramatic change of heart, you would assume the topic did not come up. 

Presumably he mentioned he was getting married in Ibiza on Saturday, which is why City were under the impression they would finally get him to Manchester on Wednesday. Still, no rush; who could begrudge him his own wedding?

And then the deal was off. At some point in the last few days, perhaps even on his wedding day, Alves and his people were finalising a move to PSG. Not all of his people, seemingly: as late as Tuesday afternoon certain sources close to the player were themselves surprised at this turn of events.

For City it was déjà vu. Last June, Aymeric Laporte informed the Blues' sporting director, Txiki Begirsitain, that after agreeing personal terms he wouldn't be moving to the Etihad after all. The contracts had been drawn up and a fee had been agreed with Athletic Bilbao, and Laporte's 11th hour phone call left Begiristain so furious that the young centre-back was not considered as a transfer target this summer, and probably won't be in the future. 

Alves's decision - given he agreed his deal with City more than a fortnight ago, got himself out of his contract at Juve and has been enjoying life across South America and southern Europe since - has proven even more unpopular; Guardiola is said to be livid.

Perhaps PSG offered Alves more than the €5 million per year he would have got at City, perhaps he and his new wife would rather live in Paris, perhaps he will get more regular game time. For City, it does not really matter; they now need to focus on what comes next.

Given what he discussed with Guardiola last week, Alves may even know the extent of the damage he has done; City's transfer plans will be affected.

The Blues are determined to bring in four full-backs, but those familiar with their d