CITY to offer Dani Alves £220,000 a week
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Manchester City sense chance to sign £35m Barcelona defender Dani Alves
TARGET ... Dani AlvesManchester City are pressing ahead in their £35million pursuit of Barcelona right-back Dani Alves by telling him he will earn £220,000 a week..
As Sportsmail revealed, City sent a delegation to watch Barcelona's 5-0 destruction of Real Madrid on Monday in which Alves played a pivotal role and they were heartened further by news the two parties are no closer to agreeing terms on a new contract.
City's director of football Mike Briggs flew to Barcelona earlier this week to meet the right-back's representatives and slapped their £11.44m-a-year pay offer on the table.
Briggs also made it clear that City want the Brazilian either next month or next summer.
The Blues need to steal a march on Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, all of whom have courted Alves, 27.
And although he has won eight trophies since moving to the Nou Camp in the summer of 2008, he has failed to agree terms on a new contract.
Alves, 27, is out of contract in 2012 but wants a bumper pay hike.
Talks have broken down several times with Barcelona vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu warning: 'We will not break the wage structure of the squad.'
They are understood to be some £2m apart in negotiations with Barca offering a £6m a year deal where 60 percent is a basic wage and 40 percent in bonuses.
Alves would prefer to stay with Barcelona but has backed himself into a corner and City sense a chance to sign the best right-back in the world.
However, Barca would still expect to make a profit on the £27m they paid Sevilla for him in 2008.
Alves' deal ends in 18 months and while City are happy to pay £35m now, they are also prepared to wait and strip Barca of their asset for nothing in June 2011 if they refuse to sell.