It has been confirmed that another top star will be leaving FC Barcelona at the end of this season, just two weeks after confirming Sergio Busquets' departure.
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Defender Jordi Alba has announced he will leave the club next month after 11 years.
The left-back joined the club's famed La Masia academy as a young boy in the early 2000s but was let go by the side in 2005, before making an appearance for the first team.
Having moved to Valencia and impressed in a big way, Barca re-signed him in 2012 in a €14 million (R290 million) deal, and he has since gone on to win 18 trophies at the Camp Nou.
A statement on Barca's official website read: "Jordi Alba is leaving Barca, after just over a decade in the blaugrana jersey. In that time he has helped to totally rewrite the club's record books, and the numbers speak for themselves.
"He has made 457 official appearances since returning to his boyhood club in 2012, which could be as many as 459 by the end of his last season.
"In that time has scored 26 goals and given 91 assists. No other Barca defender has ever been involved in anything like that number of goals for the team.
"In La Liga, a competition he has won six times, he has either scored or assisted 78 goals. A record not just for Barca, but for any team since there are available stats. That's a full 16 more than Marcelo and 18 more than Sergio Ramos, the two Real Madrid players who place second and third on the list.
"Striker after striker has benefited from Alba's ability to create goal opportunities, but none more so than Leo Messi. The Catalan's sprints down the run to then cut the ball back to the Argentinian from the by-line became an iconic image at Barca, repeated time and time again.
"Messi scored no fewer than 23 goals off passes from Jordi Alba. But he was not alone. Luis Suarez was another major beneficiary, scoring 20 goals off assists from the same man. More recently, Alba's most common target has been Ansu Fati, who he has assisted 7 times.
"Jordi Alba is a player who will go down in club folklore. We still have two more chances to enjoy him in what's left of the current season. Moments to be savoured along with all the wonderful memories that the player is leaving behind him."
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It is believed Alba agreed to the exit as a way of helping out the Spanish giants' financial situation as they now no longer need to account for his wages on their books.
He is rumoured to be making a move to Italy, with both Juventus and Inter Milan said to be huge admirers, while Atletico Madrid are also reportedly interested in signing the experienced fullback.
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