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What's the story?
Barcelona star and captain Andres Iniesta has revealed that he wants to retire at the club when his time comes. The 33-year-old midfielder has been with the La Liga club ever since he joined the Catalan outfit as a child and has also iterated his desire to 'play at the highest level' for a few more years.
"I have always said I would like to retire at Barcelona," the Spain international said at the opening of a football pitch in his hometown of Fuentealbilla. "It is the club I have been at since I was 12.
"I still have years left to play at the highest level so it is too early to decide my future, but Barcelona is where I want to be and hope to be for a long time."
In case you didn't know...
Iniesta's future at the club has been a topic for discussion for quite some time now. His current contract ends at the end of the 2017/18 season.
Having made over 600 appearances for the club over the last 15 seasons, Iniesta had claimed last month that he wanted to fulfill the contract and that he would not stand in the club's way when it was time for him to leave.
The heart of the matter
Iniesta is now 33 and the 2016/17 campaign was one of his least productive during his time at the club. Not exactly known to be a prolific goalscorer, he managed to score only one goal (in the Champions League) and also managed to provide just four assists.
Barcelona's midfield as a whole suffered in the 2016/17 season and the drastic change from a possession-based approach to a more direct approach saw the onus of attack shift to the front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
What's next?
Iniesta's future will depend a lot on what kind of style new manager Ernesto Valverde employs at the Camp Nou. It is understood that Valverde blocked the sale of Iniesta.
“I consider Andres to be a very important player for the team and for the club,” Valverde had said in June. The club considered selling him to avoid letting him go for free next summer with Juventus reportedly interested if he was available.
Author's take
Iniesta definitely has a couple of years left in the tank at the highest level. But it remains to be seen exactly how Valverde uses him. The midfielder's vision and touch were key to Barcelona's triumphs in recent years.
If Valverde can capitalise on his strengths by building the midfield around him, Iniesta could drastically improve a stagnant midfield that has been bereft of creativity in the past year or so.
