Esteban Granero brought his two-and-a-half-year spell at Espanyol to an end on Thursday after agreeing to rescind his contract, which has enabled him to join Segunda Division B side Marbella on a free.
The 32-year-old's contract was set to expire on June 30, but he came to an agreement with Espanyol to terminate it six months early as the club needed to create space in their squad after the signings of Raul de Tomas, Leandro Cabrera and Adri Embarba.
Now, Granero will begin a new adventure in the Segunda B, having penned a deal with Marbella until June 2021. He has been brought in as the Andalusians look to achieve promotion to LaLiga SmartBank this season.
Marbella have secured themselves a player who has represented some big clubs, such as Real Madrid, Getafe, Queens Park Rangers, Real Sociedad and, most recently, Espanyol.
Granero arrived at Espanyol in the summer of 2017, at which time Quique Sanchez Flores was the head coach, and his experience has been key for Los Periquitos, as shown by the fact that he was made one of the club's captains.
However, a lack of game time caused Granero to look elsewhere and, on Thursday, he did not train with his teammates.
Espanyol are expecting to allow two players to depart on Thursday, with Granero having been the first.
The second is set to be Lluis Lopez, who is likely to complete his loan move to Tenerife in the coming hours.
There are less than 48 hours left in the transfer window and Espanyol want to trim down their squad before it closes.
Another player who could bring his time at the RCDE Stadium to an end is striker Facundo Ferreyra, with the Argentine having suffered from injuries and a lack of form this season.
His loan spell from Benfica is set to come to an end in June, but Espanyol are looking to part ways with Ferreyra before the end of the window.