A Brazilian magazine has reportedly been identified as having paid Dani Alves’ €1m (£850,000) bail after the former Barcelona star was released from prison.

Alves was released from prison on Monday after depositing the funds having spent 13 months in jail.

The 40-year-old had been held at Brians 2 Prison near Barcelona since January 2023 after being accused of raping a young woman in a nightclub bathroom in the Spanish city in the early hours of December 31, 2022.

He was found guilty of rape last month and was handed a four-and-a-half year prison sentence, which he subsequently appealed. Alves pleaded to be released on bail, and his bail bond was set at €1m.

It appeared that he would struggle to raise this figure due to the Brazilian reportedly having two empty bank accounts and another in the red, but he managed to pay the fee on Monday and was released from prison.

The source of the payment has been the subject of speculation, with Memphis Depay‘s agent denying reports the Atletico Madrid forward had paid Alves’ bail.

Brazilian team-mate Neymar’s dad had been expected to help Alves pay the money to secure his freedom, but he issued a statement denying he would hand over any cash after coming under political pressure in his homeland.

Spanish journalist Marisa Martín Blazquez, speaking on Fiesta, reported that a Brazilian magazine paid Alves bail in exchange for an interview.

Blazquez said the Alves would have been requested to ask his model wife Joana Sanz to feature as part of the interview.

‘The magazine, known in Brazil, does great reports on important people in Brazil, but also internationally,’ Blazquez said.

‘There are a series of requirements that must be met.

‘An interview would be being conducted as a video report on Alves’ story and, in addition, Alves would have asked Joana Sanz to participate in this report.

‘[The payment] would have been an advance as payment for that documentary-type interview that is being done.’

Sanz revealed last year she had demanded a divorce after Alves admitted for the first time to having sex with the woman he was found guilty of raping, but claimed as he still does that the relations were consensual.

The 31-year-old brunette later said the divorce had been put on hold and she gave evidence on Alves’ behalf at his trial from February 5 to 7.

Alves is on provisional release and will usually attend court hearings on Friday.

He is understood to have complied with the other orders of the three judges who said he could leave jail despite his recent rape conviction by handing in his Spanish and Brazilian passports.

Keen to make the most of his life outside prison walls, he was reported to have celebrated one of his first nights of freedom with a lavish party.

Alves was convicted of raping a 23-year-old woman in the toilet of an upscale Barcelona nightclub, Sutton, over a year and a half ago.

The jail sentence he received, considered lenient by some critics, was far less than the nine years public prosecutors demanded and the 12 years Alves’ female accuser wanted if he was convicted.

Previous attempts from the footballer to be allowed bail had been rejected by the courts largely because he was viewed as a potential fight risk, and the player’s home nation, Brazil, does not extradite citizens sentenced abroad.