Dani Alves to Manchester United: Premier League club leading the race to sign Barcelona defender as PSG pull out of the running

Alves is out of contract at the end of the season but PSG head coach Laurent Blanc believes he will stay with Barcelona

Alves celebrates with Lionel Messi during Saturday's Copa del Rey victory (Getty Images)

Manchester United are optimistic that they are leading the race to sign Barcelona defender Dani Alves on a free transfer should he leave the Spanish club after the Champions League final.

Alves looks certain to leave Barcelona with his contract running down, and the Brazilian claimed he had been “disrespected” by his current club off the pitch ahead of the Berlin final against Juventus this Saturday.

His comments appeared to pave the way for a move to French champions Paris Saint-Germain, but United are reported by The Guardian to be confident the right-back has no intention of moving to Paris because he doesn’t want to join the club.

United’s hopes of landing Alves, who currently earns £120,000-a-week at the Nou Camp which would comfortably fit into United’s wage structure, was given a boost when their main rivals in the race to land him appeared to rule themselves out.

PSG head coach Laurent Blanc believes Alves will stay with Barcelona (2015 Getty Images)

PSG head coach Laurent Blanc appeared to rule his club out of the running for Alves’ signature, although his reasoning was not that a move to United is on the cards.

"Dani Alves will not come to PSG," Blanc said. "I do not think so anyway. He is out of contract but his intention is to extend with Barca.

"It is a game he is playing with his club, he's awaiting their proposal. It's nice for the press to have something to talk about, but there has been no contact that I know of."

Alves will confirm his decision after the Champions League final, with both Barcelona and Juventus bidding for an historic treble having already secured league and cup success in Spain and Italy respectively.

"From June 7 I'll announce my future,” Alves has said previously.

"My intention was not to speak, but I haven't been respected with a lot of silly things. It's gone too far. I don't want anybody to influence my decisions. My future only depends on me."

The right-back position has proven a tricky one to fill since Gary Neville hung up his boots, with Alves’s compatriot Rafael failing to push on as the club had hoped. Both Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have been deployed on the flank but look to have a future in the centre, while Antonio Valencia – a natural winger – has been forced to cover in defence this season.

A player of Alves’ calibre – having won five La Liga crowns and bidding for a third European Cup since joining Barcelona in July 2008 from Seville – would likely slot straight into Van Gaal’s first-team plans, but at 32 years old his best days could well be behind him.