BARCELONA (Reuters) - Barcelona midfielder Denis Suarez has agreed to move back to his boyhood club Celta Vigo, the Spanish champions said on Sunday.
"Barcelona and Celta Vigo have reached an agreement for the transfer of Denis Suarez. The Galician club will pay Barcelona 12.9 million euros ($14.66 million) plus 3.1 (million) in variables," Barca announced in a statement.
"Barcelona would like to publicly express its gratitude to Denis Suarez for his commitment and dedication and wish him every bit of luck and success in the future."
Spaniard Suarez, 25, came through Celta's academy and played for the reserves before moving to Manchester City aged 17 but he never played a competitive game for the Premier League side.
He returned to Spain in 2013 to join Barcelona's reserve team and then went out on loan to Sevilla and Villarreal before finally breaking into Barca's first team in 2016, making a total of 16 La Liga starts for the Catalans in two campaigns.
Suarez did not start a league games last season and went on loan to Arsenal in January but his second spell in England was overshadowed by injuries as he failed to break into the starting lineup at the London side, making six substitute appearances.
($1 = 0.8801 euros)
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Ken Ferris)