Official: Jordi Alba leaves Barcelona

In a major development, Gerard Romero reports that Barcelona veteran Jordi Alba will leave the club at the end of the season with official sources confirming the news to the journalist.

Alba still has one year left on his contract with Barcelona, but the club have been pushing him to consider leaving as they cannot afford to pay his wages, which will rise to €30 million for the next season, owing to deferred payments and the incremental nature of his deal.

There have been talks of a mutual termination of his contract or even a possible salary reduction for a while now.

The 34-year-old had always maintained that he would like to see out his contract at Barça and had previously hinted that he would even be open to helping out the club financially by taking a pay cut.

However, the two parties have instead decided to part ways. It was the player who decided to move away. The veteran full-back is also set to waive a large portion of the salary that is owed to him by the club.

❗️ El FC Barcelona i @JordiAlba han arribat a un acord per la desvinculació del contracte que el jugador tenia amb el Club fins al final de la temporada 2023/24

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) May 24, 2023

A product of Barcelona’s La Masia academy, Alba left the club at a young age before returning in 2012 after stints at Cornelia and Valencia.

Since then, he has been pretty much an undisputed starter at left-back for a good part of the last decade, racking up over 450 appearances for the club and winning six La Liga titles and one UEFA Champions League trophy.

However, over the course of the 2022/23 campaign, Alba lost his starting spot to Alejandro Balde and it became clear that he does not have a prominent role in Xavi’s plans at the club.

As such, he has now decided to move on to a new challenge, although it remains unclear where he will end up. There has been interest in the veteran from clubs like Inter Milan and Juventus.

Will Alba’s departure affect Messi’s arrival?

Jordi Alba will become the third captain to leave Barcelona this season after Gerard Pique retired from football in November and Sergio Busquets announced his decision to part ways when his contract expires on June 30.

It is bound to raise some questions about whether the departure of Alba, as well as Busquets, might have an impact on Barça’s pursuit of Lionel Messi. After all, the three are very close friends and it has been previously reported that their futures might be interlinked.

But, Romero clarifies that it will not be the case and Alba’s impending exit from Barcelona will not have any impact on Messi’s potential arrival in the summer.

A sea of change is taking place at Barcelona this summer with two established veterans and club legends set to bid goodbye, while they will also be shifting from Spotify Camp Nou to the Montjuic Olympic Stadium until November 2024.