Andres Iniesta, a former Barcelona player, has announced his departure from J-League club Vissel Kobe but has not yet put his boots away.
After leaving Barcelona in 2018, Iniesta relocated to Japan. However, he has fallen out of favor this season and will leave the team in the middle of its J-League season.
On Thursday, the midfielder gave a press conference to announce his departure and outline his future goals.
According to him, "I always thought I would retire here, but things haven't gone as I wanted them to," he told reporters.
"Over the past few months, I've worked hard to improve my fitness with the goal of helping the team, but I started to sense that the coach had other priorities.
"While working at Vissel Kobe, I made a lot of wonderful friends and developed significantly as a person and professional.