Football: Sevilla captain Vicente Iborra set for Leicester move

Sevilla has agreed to sell captain and midfielder Vicente Iborra to Leicester City for €14 million (S$21.9 million). PHOTO: AFP

BARCELONA (REUTERS) - Sevilla are set to lose captain Vicente Iborra to Leicester City after the Spanish side announced on Tuesday they had agreed to sell the midfielder to the former Premier League champions for a reported €14 million (S$21.9 million).

Iborra, 29, has spent the last four years with Sevilla since joining from Levante in 2013, scoring 30 goals in 172 games, winning three successive Europa League titles and playing an important role in helping the team qualify for the Champions League in the last two campaigns.

The club said the Spanish midfielder would travel to Leicester to undergo a medical before signing his contract and returning to publicly bid farewell to Sevilla, who were knocked out of the 2016-17 Champions League term by the Foxes at the last-16 stage.

"Iborra has shown exemplary behaviour in his time at the club and has won the unanimous respect and love of all Sevilla fans," Sevilla said in a statement.

"His achievements with the club are colossal but he will also be remembered for his leadership on and off the pitch, and for the dignity with which he wore the captain's armband."

The imminent departure of Iborra marks the onset of a major overhaul of personnel at Sevilla, an event which occurs annually each summer, although the changes have not led to the team's decline on the pitch in recent seasons.

Sevilla finished fourth in LaLiga last season, despite parting ways with a raft of players, including top scorer French striker Kevin Gameiro and Polish midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak.

Argentinian midfielder Ever Banega has returned to the club a year after leaving for Italian Serie A side Inter Milan, while Spanish forward Vitolo is reported to be on the verge of a move to Atletico Madrid.

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