Iniesta admits return to club would have to be after retirement

Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta has expressed his desire to return to Camp Nou, although only in an off-field role after he has finished his playing career.

Iniesta played 674 games Barça and won 30 trophies during an illustrious 16 years in the first-team of his boyhood club. He left in 2018 and is coming towards the end of his fifth season in Japan with Vissel Kobe, with whom he won the Emperor’s Cup in 2019.

Iniesta has already seen former midfielder partner Xavi make his way back to Camp Nou, while Lionel Messi is also heavily tipped to be returning sooner rather than later.

At 38, Iniesta has admitted he would love to pull on the shirt as a player again, but is well aware that he is too far past his best for it to be a genuine possibility.

“It’s not that I don’t want to [go back as a player],” the 2010 World Cup winner told YouTuber Jordi Wild as a guest on The Wild Project podcast.

“For me, I would be delighted, but the time has passed. I don’t see myself [playing], it would be impossible to compete with the people there are.”

But that doesn’t mean not going back at all, with either a coaching role or a job upstairs appealing.

“I would like to return to Barça. I would like to train as a coach or sports director. I would like to train in different areas and then we would see,” Iniesta explained.