Andres Iniesta joined Barcelona’s academy in 1996 and six years later made his debut in their first team.
The midfielder has been instrumental for the Catalan club and Spain, winning all major trophies with club and country over more than a decade. The 34-year-old ended his time at the Camp Nou at the close of the 2017/18 season.
A part of his success at Barcelona was achieved when Pep Guardiola was in charge at the club. The latter is of course now at Manchester City and earlier reports suggested that the former Bayern Munich manager wanted to bring Iniesta to the Etihad in the summer transfer window.
The midfielder has rubbished the Manchester City speculation and stressed that he wanted to join a club outside Europe after leaving Barcelona.
“Guardiola never called me. There were zero conversations. I was leaving Barcelona to leave Europe,” Iniesta is quoted as saying by Sport.
The Spaniard has agreed to join Vissel Kobe and has already signed a three-year deal with the Japanese club. He is now currently with the Spain squad preparing for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
