Barcelona captain Carles Puyol has announced he will be leaving the Spanish champions at the end of the season.

The 35-year-old Spain international had a contract with Barça until 2016 but has reached an agreement with the club to rescind the final two years of the deal.

Puyol, who has spent his entire career at Barcelona and made his first-team debut in 1999, made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

“I want to announce that at the end of the season I will no longer be a Barcelona player,” he said. “There are three months of the season left and I will not give up. I will help the team.”

The defender, who only signed his contract extension with Barça a year ago, has seen his career disrupted by injuries. In his career he has suffered a total of 36 injuries in 15 campaigns with the first team, eight of which have been knee problems.

This season he has been limited to just five appearances in Spanish La Liga, one in the UEFA Champions League and six in the Copa del Rey.

He said: “After two recent surgeries, it has become harder for me to recover the level that I demand of myself and that I need to be at to play here.”