Shanghai: China’s Chongqing Lifan club have denied making a big-money move for Andres Iniesta as Spanish media said the Barcelona captain could now be headed for Japan or Australia after completion of his two-decade tenure with the Spanish giants.
Chongqing said Iniesta wouldn’t be joining ‘as a player’ but left the door open to future cooperation with the midfielder, who has promotional and marketing links with the city.
Chongqing asserted that they wanted to support the ‘healthy development of Chinese football’. “Our club will never violate the development prospects of Chinese football,” a statement from the club said.
“The other sports industry sections of our club’s controlling shareholder have in-depth cooperation with Mr Iniesta in sports brokerage, sports marketing, and youth training and education.
“We don’t rule out that in the future there may be more in-depth cooperation between the two sides in the Chinese market, but this does not mean that Mr Iniesta will join the club as a player,” it added.
Japan’s Vissel Kobe, named in Spanish media as a possible next club for Iniesta, had no comment Tuesday when approached by this agency.
