Andres Iniesta will move to Japan to play for Vissel Kobe with the Barcelona legend set to be announced by the club in the next two days.
Iniesta's contract at Barcelona came to an end when the season finished and he could have stayed at the Camp Nou but like his former teammate Xavi he has decided to end his career away from La Liga as a first teamer rather than see his playing time decrease in Spain.
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It was initially thought that the World Cup winner was going to move to China with Chongqing Lifan but the CSL side soon denied that they were going to sign him, seemingly because of financial issues.
Now the 34 year old will move to the J-League instead and there he will find former Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski who moved to the club from Galatasaray last year.
Kobe are currently sixth in the J-League, definitely not where Iniesta is used to being in the league.
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Before he moves to Japan the legendary midfielder has a prior engagement in Russia to see to. Once again Iniesta, despite his age, is in Spain's World Cup squad for Russia.
He started the two recent friendlies against Germany and Argentina for Spain, in the latter they won 6-1 against one of their fellow World Cup favourites, and he could well start in the finals.
Iniesta bowed out of his time with Barcelona at the weekend when he played in the side's last game of the season, a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad in which Philippe Coutinho scored the only goal.
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After the match Iniesta, who was given his final standing ovation at the Camp Nou as a player, stayed sitting on the pitch on his own until the early hours of the morning.
He ends his time in Europe with a ridiculous hall of trophies, having won La Liga nine times and the Champions League four times, as well as numerous other domestic cups, he's also won the World Cup and two Euros.
Could there be one more World Cup until he disappears into the land of the rising sunset?
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Barcelona, CSL, Andres Iniesta, Japan
