Inter Miami defender Jordi Alba admits he changed his mind after signing a contract extension with the club through the 2027 Major League Soccer season, choosing instead to retire from football at the end of the current campaign.
"It's true that I renewed my contract in May, but the conversations were much earlier, and well, maybe it's true that the time in May, now October, hasn't been long, but it's a decision I've been meditating on, that I've been making over time, and it's been a while, well, three or four weeks since I communicated it to the team, to the club," Alba said.
"Obviously, it was a decision that I had to say. I understood that it was me who would share this type of situation, and in the end, well, the considered decision, I think, is the best. Obviously, I'm still physically fine, but I've weighed everything up and I think it's the most honest, the fairest, and it's also a decision that I made alone.
"Well, it changed, just like you, because any human being changes their mind from one day to the next.
"Mine has been several months, so to be in a place where I'm not going to be 100% or I'm not going to give everything I want to give or perhaps what I should give, well, I prefer to step aside. I think it's the right time."
His career will now come to a close at the end of the 2025 MLS campaign, after two years with Inter Miami.
Head coach Javier Mascherano admitted Alba's decision to retire will be difficult for the club, though the announcement did not come as a surprise.
"It's difficult. We knew it, it didn't come as a surprise. We knew it a few days ago, both he and Busquets told the group before it was released to the press," Mascherano said.
"Well, look, sometimes you talk, you sniff things out, but it always surprises especially when a player is in his prime. He's in his prime. It's not like he's passing the numbers, the number of games he plays a year, he has very few injuries.
"But hey, there are also personal decisions. Saying I want to retire this way doesn't mean I have to reach a stage in my life where I have to get injured a lot or no longer have as much continuity to make the decision.
"They're decisions; everyone experiences them in their own way. The important thing, I repeat, is that he does it in a very natural way.
"He's totally convinced, and obviously he knows he could play for one or two more years. He wants to retire and wants to start a different kind of life, and that's totally acceptable."
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Alba first joined Inter Miami in 2023, arriving at the club alongside longtime teammates Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi. He formed a part of the team that lifted the 2023 inaugural Leagues Cup trophy, 2024 Supporters' Shield and helped set the league record for most points in a single campaign.
Prior to Miami, Alba also clinched six LaLiga titles and a Champions League trophy among other achievements across 11 years at Barcelona.
His 16-year career now comes to a close, chasing one final triumph as Inter Miami head into the MLS playoffs.