'Cadena SER': Iniesta will play in Japan

Hours after Chongqing Lifan announced that they would not be signing Andres Iniesta due to the economic impracticalities of the deal, another Asian giant has come in for the Barcelona captain.

'Cadena SER' have claimed that Iniesta will sign a three year contract with Japanese side Vissel Kobe, in a deal that will be worth in the region of €25m a year, a similar contract to the one on the table in China.

The Spanish outlet revealed that Hiroshi Mikitani, Vissel Kobe's president and CEO of Barca shirt sponsor 'Rakuten', traveled to the Camp Nou to watch 'El Clasico', and finalise a deal.

There is no official confirmation yet, but Barca will use the deal as a foot in the door to opening a 'La Masia' academy in Japan, for which Iniesta would be the torchbearer.

Although Chongqing's announcement came as a surprise, in Barcelona it is understood that Hiroshi Mikitani was instrumental in persuading Iniesta to join the Japanese team.