Barcelona captain Carles Puyol will leave the club at the end of the current season. The defender, now 35 years old, has a contract until 2016 but the club agreed to terminate the deal before that. Puyol is a legend at Camp Nou, making 593 appearances for the club since his debut in 1999. During this spell Barcelona won six league titles, three Champions League trophies and two Spanish Cups.
He has also helped Barca to win the UEFA Super Cup on two occasions and the Spanish Super Cup no less than six times. Puyol was also decisive in Spain's achievements of late, winning the 2008 European Championship and the 2010 World Cup. He has been struggling with knee injuries lately though and missed the 2012 European Championships. This season he only managed to make 12 appearances for Barcelona.
"After the last two operations it has been difficult for me to recover the level I need to be able to continue here, more than I expected," said Puyol. "That is why I have taken this decision. There are three months of the season left and I won't be giving up. I don't know what I will do after 30 June, but I'm sure that in the summer I will rest. I would like to have a news conference at the end of the season to say a proper goodbye after a total of 19 years at the club."
Barcelona are currently second in the Primera Liga table, one point behind leaders Real Madrid, and they are 11/10 at Bet365 to clinch the league title this season.
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