Barcelona boss explains Arda Turan January exit and Andres Iniesta rest after win at Real Sociedad

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde has wished Arda Turan "good luck" at Istanbul Basaksehir after the out-of-favour midfielder completed his proposed move to the Turkish side on a two-and-a-half year loan deal.

The 30-year-old midfielder moved to the Nou Camp in the summer of 2014 after garnering a big reputation at Atletico Madrid.

However, the Turkey international was unable to play for Barcelona during his first six months at the club due to a transfer ban and struggled to replicate his best form at the Nou Camp.

The La Liga giants tried to get rid of him in the summer but Turan decided to continue at the Nou Camp despite knowing that he was not in Valverde's plans ahead of the new campaign.

His departure this month looked inevitable with the Turk failing to register a single minute of playing time during the opening half of the season.

Furthermore, the Catalans desperately needed to cut his huge salary from the wage budget following the signings of both Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool and Yerry Mina from Palmeiras.

And on Saturday [13 January] Barcelona finally announced Turan's much-desired exit after reaching an agreement with Istanbul Basaksehir for the player to continue his career with the Turkish Super Lig leaders.

"This is football and the manager has to make decisions. He has trained well with the rest of his teammates. Sometimes you decide to play Messi, Suarez or Pique and not play another player. That is simply the reason," Valverde said when asked about Turan's departure.

"We have many players. I understand that Barcelona have great players and it is difficult to find a place. That is the reason. We wish him good luck."

Valverde was speaking at a press conference after his side battled back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 at Real Sociedad thanks to a Paulinho goal, a Luis Suárez brace and a Lionel Messi free-kick.

Andres Iniesta was unused throughout the comeback win with Rac 1 reporting that the captain was not 100% fit to play.

The Barcelona boss admitted that the Iniesta had a "little problem" but suggested that the Spanish maestro would have been fit enough to play if it had been absolutely necessary.

"We have a lot of games now," Valverde said when asked whether Iniesta had suffered a fresh injury. "This was also a game with some special circumstances, such as the wet pitch due to the rain. I thought that it would be better to go with Andre Gomes because La Real have a powerful right side with [Alvaro] Odriozola, [Xabi] Prieto and [Sergio] Canales. Then, given how the game was and those circumstances, I decided not to use him. I think he has a little problem but he is fine."

Barcelona, even without their skipper, still managed to secured their first victory at Anoeta since 2007 to remain nine points clear of Atletico Madrid in the La Liga table.

Valverde was delighted with the comeback victory but refused to consider his side as champions in waiting.

"You can drop points at any ground. There are good teams in the league, but I leave here with the feeling that we are a hard team to beat," the boss said.

"They key has been not to start with big ambitions, but to take everything one step at a time and not interpret anything as a catastrophe. You have to remove yourself from those things and stay together; this is crucial. We hope we can continue like this and keep improving."