Good post
He probably wants to make the world cup 2018 his last hurrah, so he'll aim to get another year as (semi)-regular starter under valverde.
By the way, on the subject whether a club should offload its legends as soon as they underperfom: I staunchly in the "no player as bigger than the club" camp. Football is a professional sport and if a player really becomes a liability, then you can't afford to have this competetive disadvantage just for nostalgic reasons.
However, first of all, it is much harder to evaluate the worth of having legends like iniesta, totti, buffon and in a couple of years messi on the squad even if their footballing abilities have noticeably declined.
And secondly, even if you decide it's for the best to offload a player, this can be done with respect and dignity for both parts. I'm normally not a guy who thinks we have inherently the moral high ground over real, but i have to say, the way they handled casillas departure was outright disgusting, especially compared to the sending off we gave xavi.
A calculating approach doesn't need to be callous.
