According to several sources including Esport3 and Catalan journalists Gerard Romero and Xavi Lemus, Sergi Samper will join Vissel Kobe. The player is expected to travel to Japan next week and sign a contract that will last for four years starting in summer 2019. Barcelona will not receive any compensation for the 24-year-old midfielder as his contract runs out at the end of the current season.
Interestingly, Vissel Kobe becomes sort of a Barca 'subsidiary' in Japan as two ex-Blaugrana players are already wearing the wine-coloured shirts. Andres Iniesta joined the team in summer 2018 and David Villa followed the 34-year-old in January 2019.
Sergi Samper was born in Barcelona in 1995. He joined the La Masia academy in 2001 and graduated in 2014 making his first appearance for the first team in the Champions League starting against APOEL in a 1-0 home victory. The midfielder has managed 13 games for Barcelona in all competitions so far. He has also played for Granada (23 matches in 2016/17) and Las Palmas (5 matches in 2017/18) on loan.
Samper's career has been severely damaged by injuries as he has missed almost 450 days and 76 matches since April 2016 due to various health problems. He played 33 minutes for Barcelona this season in a Copa del Rey match against Cultural Leonesa. Sergi started the game but sustained another injury and was forced to come off.
