Dani Alves was a very important player for Barcelona and he played for them so many years. He is very old now of course and I think Barcelona don't need him anymore. He might even retire soon too as he is 39. But I will remember him as one of the best right-backs in the world. Barcelona are targeting to make the squad as young as possible now. This is a nice step for doing this. They are trying a different thing which is being successful with youngsters and I'd like to see them succeeding in this.
Even though his performance was superior in the past at Barcelona, it is true that age is now a barrier and we already know that Dani Alves' performance has decreased quite a bit now.
Retirement may not be long for this player. As for Barcelona, they seem to be starting again with a younger team, apart from maturing their players, this is also good enough for long-term progress.