Barcelona purge begins as Ivan Rakitic joins Sevilla

The 32-year-old returns to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan six years after making a big-money move in the opposite direction

Ivan Rakitic of FC Barcelona looks on (Getty Images)

Ivan Rakitic has completed his move back to Sevilla as the purge at crisis-hit Barcelona begins.

The 32-year-old returns to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan six years after making a big-money move in the opposite direction.

He joins for an initial €1.5million fee with up to €9m of potential add ons. He has signed a four-year deal.

The Croatian international won the Champions League and four La Liga titles in his time at the Nou Camp but found playing time hard to come by under former boss Quique Setien last term.

He returns to Sevilla where he will hope to have similar success to his first spell when he captained the club to the Europa League crown in 2014.

Barcelona are looking to offload a number of high profile players this summer in the wake of a disastrous 2019/20 season.

However, they remain insistent that club captain Lionel Messi will not be one of them despite his intention to leave and interest from Manchester City.