Former Barcelona star offers himself back to the club to help with crisis

FC Barcelona have been busy sorting out their finances and that includes offloading high earners and locking down young stars to long-term deals. Some of the club's veterans have been asked to make major sacrifices in the form of wage cuts, but now a former player also wants to pitch in. Former Barca right-back Dani Alves is reportedly offering himself back to the club.

However, the terms of his potential return are unclear. The Camp Nou bore witness to the peak of the Brazilian's career from 2008 to 2016. He was present during the golden era with Lionel Messi, where he won 23 titles across numerous competitions with the club.

He signed with the Catalan giants in 2008 from Andalusian side Sevilla, and left in 2016 to join Italian giants Juventus FC. He had a short one-year stint in Turin before moving to Messi's current club, PSG. He stayed in Paris for two years before heading back to Brazil to play for Sao Paolo.

According to Marca, the former Barcelona star's current contract with the Brazilian club expires in January, and he wants to make a Camp Nou comeback five years since his exit.

However, local media are sceptical about the move. The club has shown in recent weeks that the focus is on young talents that could help usher in the post-Messi era. New long-term deals for teenagers like Pedri and Ansu Fati shows evidence of this, and signing back a club veteran would appear to be a massive step back.

Old timers like Gerard Pique and captain Sergio Busquets are still with the team on reduced wages, and president Joan Laporta knows that he needs to keep the players who can guide the new generation. Perhaps Alves can contribute, especially if he is offering his services for very little compensation or even for free. Laporta admitted earlier this month that he had actually hoped Messi would offer to stay and play for free when it became clear over the summer that the club could not afford to keep him. Alas, the PSG offer was too good to turn down.

On the other hand, like Xavi Hernandez, Alves may return as part of the managerial team and not necessarily as part of the squad. As an active player he has no experience in this role yet, but many footballers have returned to their former clubs to start building managerial careers in the youth program. This perhaps is the most realistic route for the Brazilian's Camp Nou homecoming.