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Shinji Okazaki will leave Leicester City in the summer.
A £7.5 million buy from Mainz in 2015, he made 30 appearances and scored 3 goals during the title winning season, and was a hugely popular figure, both within the dressing room and amongst the Leicester fans.
The 33-year old Japanese international has been at the club for four years, but has opted to bring the curtain down on his career in the East Midlands, as the number of first team opportunities offered to him has gradually diminished.
He will be the latest member of the 2015 – 2016 Premier winning squad to leave the club, as Brendan Rodgers begins to overhaul the team, and starts to bring in his own players.
However, as The Daily Telegraph reports, Okazaki still has hopes of playing for Japan in the 2022 World Cup and, for that to happen, he needs to be playing regular football.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.