BARCELONA (Spain), Dec 20: Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez has signed a new contract which is expected to keep him at the club until the end of his career.

Xavi will be 34 years old at the end of the 5-1/2 year deal which reportedly makes him the third highest paid player at the club behind forwards Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o.

“It was a really big wish I had and it has come true. It’s a privilege to be here so many years,” Xavi told Barcelona’s website on Friday. The Spanish international, whose previous contract ran until 2010, will have an euro80 million ($111.4 million) buy-out clause attached.

Xavi has spent his career at Barcelona during which he has played 442 games. He helped the Catalan club win the Champions League in 2006.—AP