Barcelona‘s players on Wednesday bid Javier Mascherano goodbye as his seven-and-a-half year spell at the Catalan club came to an end.

The Argentinian will depart for Chinese Super League club Hebei China Fortune, it was confirmed by the club.

Mascherano was given a farewell ceremony which was attended by club President Josep Bartomeu, coach Ernesto Valverde, his team mates, coaching staff, media and others.

Barca players Carles Puyol, Eric Abidal too were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the 33-year old was shown an emotional video (below) during the ceremony, that had all of his team-mates including Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi wishing him goodbye and thanking him for his contributions in their own way.

Pique alluded to the fact that he was partnered in defence with Mascherano a lot although that wasn’t the plan. His versatility though saw him easily adapt to a centre-back role.

“We unexpectedly played together in defence a lot of days. When you came that wasn’t the intention. It’s been an honour,” the Spaniard said.