Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta has revealed that he will leave Japanese team Vissel Kobe but still wants to play at age 39.

The Spanish World Cup winner’s contract with Vissel runs until the end of the year, but a tearful Iniesta said he will leave in July because he hasn’t played much this season.

This season, Iniesta has only come on as a substitute three times for Vissel, who are three points ahead at the top of the table.

The football star in the middle said he didn’t know what his next move would be, but he didn’t think he would retire.

Many people think he is one of the best players of his generation, and he has been linked to a job at Barcelona that doesn’t involve playing.

“First I want to finish my time here properly and then see what options are available to me,” he told reporters, pausing to wipe away tears at times.

“I want to keep playing and then retire while I’m still active. That’s difficult for me to do here, so I want to find a place where I can eventually retire.”

Iniesta joined Vissel in 2018 after playing for Barcelona for more than 600 games and winning four Champions Leagues and nine La Liga titles.

He signed a contract with Vissel for three years with a reported salary of $30 million per year. In May 2021, he extended the contract for another year.

Iniesta won the Emperor’s Cup in Japan in 2019 and led Vissel to the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League the following year.

But last season, the team was in a fight to stay in the same division. They kept firing coaches until they were 13th out of 18 teams.

Iniesta said that his decision to leave Vissel was “one of the hardest of my career.”

“I always thought I would retire here, but things haven’t gone as I wanted them to,” he said.

“For the past few months I’ve trained hard with the intention of contributing to the team, but I started to feel that the coach had different priorities.”

On June 6, Iniesta will play for Vissel against Barcelona in a friendly game at Tokyo’s National Stadium.

His last J-League game will be at home on July 1 against Consadole Sapporo.

Photo by EPA/JIJI PRESS JAPAN OUT