Wednesday, February 2, 2022 at 2:03 PM• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 14:18

Barcelona have decided not to sign up recently returned Dani Alves for the Europa League, it assures ASH and Sport Wednesday. Trainer Xavi and his staff members would have come to that decision after extensive internal consultation. Barcelona must make a choice, because UEFA rules state that a maximum of three new players can be registered for the knockout phase of the Europa League. The Catalans presented four purchases in the last transfer window and Alves is apparently the child of the bill.

At the end of 2021, the 38-year-old Alves was Xavi’s first acquisition for the remainder of this season. This was followed by Ferran Torres, Adama Traoré and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was officially presented by Barcelona on Wednesday. The trio is reportedly registered for the European tournament. Xavi’s team will face Napoli in the intermediate round of the Europa League on 17 and 24 February and the expectation in Spain is that Alves will have to let the diptych pass by.

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Alves was reportedly informed of the decision on Wednesday after training and the Brazilian veteran would have no problem with Xavi’s decision. The Barcelona manager prefers the attacking players because he has several options for the right-back position: Sergiño Dest, Óscar Mingueza and Ronald Araújo. In addition, Sergi Roberto is expected back in March after his hamstring injury.

marca predicted on Tuesday that Alves would fall outside the European adventure of Barcelona. “The physical aspect also plays a role. Alves is 38 years old and can no longer play every game. Xavi realizes that, so the Europa League games can be a perfect time to give him some rest,” the Madrid newspaper reasoned. Ferran is considered ‘inviolable’ because of his transfer fee of 55 million euros and the same can be said about Aubameyang, ‘because Xavi wanted to bring in a striker before the transfer window’. “Adama Traoré will also be registered, because he is the winger the coach needs. It will be difficult to get Ousmane Dembele back to the squad after he did not leave in the winter. Without the Frenchman, Xavi needs a real winger.”