If any player has all the hallmarks of a ‘typical’ Barcelona signing, it has to be Dani Alves.

With the potential to be at right-back what Roberto Carlos was at left-back, Dani Alves has it all: pace galore, aggressiveness, skill, attitude and seemingly limitless energy. Who needs a right-back when Alves plays right-back?

Born in Juazeiro, Brazil, in 1983, Daniel Alves da Silva first came to the attention of Europeans while playing for Brazil in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. Sevilla signed Dani from his first professional club, Esporte Clube Bahía, and during the 2003/04 season they really began to shine in Spanish football. As part of the Sevilla team that won the UEFA Cup in consecutive seasons, Dani Alves began to develop a reputation for himself as a tough, prowling defender. In fact, in 175 games of his career with the Andalusian team, Alves scored 11 goals, not bad for someone who didn’t take penalties.

After the 2006/07 season, Chelsea seemed to be on the verge of signing Alves, at least they thought so. They were without the powerful and idiosyncratic Sevilla president, José María Del Nido, who opposed Chelsea’s methods and insisted on waiting for a transfer fee that even Chelsea thought was too high. Much to the player’s chagrin at the time, Alves began the following season as an unwilling Sevilla player. Then followed one of those ‘if you don’t like it, stay in the reserves for the whole season’ that presidents love to do and the relationship between club and player appeared irretrievably destroyed.

The tragic death of teammate Antonio Puerta, however, put things in perspective for all parties involved and Alves went on to make 33 league appearances for Sevilla, in what turned out to be his last season for them.

When he left, in the summer of 2008, as the world’s most expensive right-back for a potential total price of €35m, Alves left Sevilla in tears with the memorable phrase that he came to the club as a child, but left him as a man.

Watching Alves play for Barcelona now, it’s hard to imagine him playing for any other team. His exuberant style completely fits into his new surroundings. He seems to be on defense one second and attack the next and his relentless enthusiasm quickly won over the home crowd. In seemingly no time at all, he developed an intuitive relationship with Lionel Messi that sees them link up on the right flank and wow the opposition.

Now fully established in the Brazilian national team – he scored one of the three goals in the team that won the Copa América in 2007 – Dani Alves can claim to be the best attacking right-back in modern world football.