Hundreds of football fans flocked to cheer Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta when he arrived in Japan yesterday to join his new club Vissel Kobe. The 34-year-old Spanish World Cup winner, who lifted 32 major trophies at Barca and made over 600 appearances for the Catalan giants, completed a big-money move to Japan in May.
About 300 fans came to Kansai airport at Osaka in western Japan to greet Iniesta when he arrived in the early morning, according to a Vissel Kobe spokesman. “I was looking forward to coming to Japan. I want to play as soon as possible,” Iniesta said, according to the spokesman. “I hope to get ready for Sunday and show the fans good play.”
Iniesta’s choice of Kobe is arguably Japanese football’s biggest transfer coup, with many top players now moving to cash-rich Chinese clubs in the twilight of their careers. Iniesta had said that moving to a Chinese club was also an option for him.
His signing is a timely boost to the J-League, which attracted luminaries such as Brazilian great Zico and England’s Gary Lineker when it began in 1993 but has struggled to lure marquee players in recent years. Iniesta will join former Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski in the western port city of Kobe after Podolski completed a move from Galatasaray last summer.

Pires hails new manager Emery as Arsenal’s ‘best signing’
Arsenal made their best signing of the transfer window when they appointed Spaniard Unai Emery as their new manager, the Premier League club’s former winger Robert Pires has said.
The north London outfit chose Emery, a former Sevilla and Paris St Germain boss, to succeed long-serving manager Arsene Wenger in May and the 46-year-old has already signed five new players as he overhauls the squad.  “The best signing for me is Unai Emery, the manager. Of course I believe in the players, and especially the new players,” Pires, who played under Wenger for six years between 2000-06, said. “He won in Spain. He won in France. He has a lot of experience and I hope for him and Arsenal that he is successful with the club.”
Uruguay international Lucas Torreira and teenager Matteo Guendouzi became Arsenal’s latest arrivals last week, while long-serving midfielder Jack Wilshere left the club earlier this month to join league rivals West Ham United. Emery took charge of his first match in Saturday’s 8-0 win over fifth-tier side Boreham Wood but will face sterner tests against Spain’s Atletico Madrid and former club Paris St German in a pre-season tournament in Singapore next week. 
The Spaniard has been tasked with improving on Arsenal’s sixth-placed league finish and their run to the Europa League semi-finals last season.




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