Barcelona have announced that left-back Jordi Alba will depart the club at the end of the season after 11 years.
The newly crowned La Liga champions made the announcement in a statement on their website on Wednesday.
“FC Barcelona and Jordi Alba have reached an agreement to terminate the player’s contract with the club one year earlier than it was due to expire at the end of the 2023/24 season,” the club stated.
“FC Barcelona would like to publicly express its gratitude to Alba for his professionalism, commitment and dedication, and his ever-positive and friendly relationship with all members of the Barça family, and wishes him every fortune in the future. Barça will always be a home for you, Jordi.
“Jordi Alba, who has made the left side of the field his own in over a decade at Barça is leaving the club as the third captain of the senior team, bringing an end to a glittering career in which he has won 19 major trophies. In 458 appearances (at the time of writing) he has scored 19 goals and given 91 assists, a considerable number considering the position he plays in.
“Jordi Alba came out of La Masia, although his rise to success happened via a very different route to the typical one at the club.
“After a few years in the Blaugrana youth set-up, where he was originally more of a midfielder, and sometimes even an attacking one, he left to play youth football at a smaller local club, Unió Esportiva Cornellà.
“Two years later, he got snapped up by Valencia, which is where he started to shine in the new position of left back, eventually winning international caps for Spain and even scoring a goal in the Euro 2012 final. It was shortly after that when he got the call to return to FC Barcelona after almost a decade away.”
