Defender Gerard Piqué has decided to end his stay at Manchester United in favour of a return to his former club Barcelona.

Piqué, 21, left Camp Nou four years ago but has struggled to hold down a first-team place in a defence which last season proved to be the strongest in the Premier League.

The Spaniard, who made 14 appearances for United and scored two Champions League goals, had a year left to run on his five-year deal, but elected to return to Barcelona after failing to move ahead of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in the pecking order in central defence.

"Piqué will this afternoon sign a contract that will link him to Barcelona until June 30 2012 and include a buy-out clause of £39.9m," read a statement on Barcelona's official club website. "With this transfer Piqué returns to Barça, the club in which he began his career as a player between 1997 and 2004, when he left to join Manchester United."

Following a disappointing season in which the Catalan club finished third in La Liga, this summer promises to be one of significant change at Barcelona, where Pep Guardiola has replaced Frank Rijkaard as manager.