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Galatasaray was forced to create space within their squad and Riera was one of the performers of the club that had to see his way out of the Turkish side in order for Alex Telles and Izet Hajrovic to join the team.

Albert Riera rescinded the contract he had with Galatasaray for €750,000. He officially left the club in January 28 and was free to join West Bromwich and Valencia as those clubs were interested in signing the veteran midfielder.

The guidelines of the Turkish Football Federation limit every club in the league to have a maximum of 10 foreign players and only 6 non-Turkish players for any league match squad selection.

The head coach of West Bromwich, Pepe Mel is a big fan of the 31 years old Spanish midfielder who joined Liverpool back in 2008 for a price tag of €8 million. When Riera made his way out of Galatasaray it was believed that he was set to join the Premier League team as the player was heavily linked with West Bromwich and he was even offered to Valencia but ultimately it was the Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv that came out as his new football destination club.

Riera signed a 1 year long contract with Metalist Kharkiv where he will earn around €1, 4 million during his stay at his new club. The abilities that Albert Riera’s displayed when he played in Espanyol and Bordeaux attracted the attention of the Premier League titans Manchester City and Liverpool and both of those clubs managed to sign the Spanish midfielder for at least 1 season until he made his way to Olympiacos and later to the Turkish club Galatasaray where his contract was rescinded not too long ago.