Barcelona expect that Lionel Messi will very soon commit his future to the Catalans now he is back from his holiday.
Elsewhere, Paul Pogba and Manchester United are waiting for Paris Saint-Germain to make their move, Leeds want Club Brugge’s Noa Lang, and Tammy Abraham may not join Arsenal, with Aston Villa interested.
BARCELONA EXPECT MESSI DEAL
Barcelona are now confident that Lionel Messi will sign a new contract with them imminently. Spanish newspaper Marca reports that the 34-year-old forward could commit his future to the Catalans in the next few hours. He will sign a five-year deal that will allow him to spend the last few seasons in the United States while remaining an ambassador for the club.
Paper Round’s view: A five-year deal means that if Messi continues to perform at the highest level then the club won’t need to worry about him swanning off elsewhere. However, in a couple of years time he will likely have faded a little and be in the mood for something easier, while earning a fortune in MLS. Keeping him on as an ambassador will help them commercially.
Lionel Messi: Barcelona says Argentine star is leaving the club
“Despite club and player reaching an agreement and their clear intention to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of financial and structural obstacles,” Barcelona said in a statement on its website.
The 34-year-old, who last month won his first Copa America with Argentina, admitted in the summer of 2020 that he had wanted to leave “all year” and claimed a clause in his contract meant he could do so for free, but in the end Messi was forced to stay as Barcelona disagreed and wasn’t willing to reduce its €700 million ($897 million) release clause.
The Argentine said his love for the club meant he had no intention of disputing the club’s decision in court and dragging out a legal dispute.
Messi’s previous contract, which expired at the end of June, was revealed by Spanish newspaper El Mundo to be worth $672 million and made him the highest paid athlete in sports history.
“Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled,” added the Barcelona statement.
“FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandisement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life.”
Messi, who made his Barcelona debut in 2004, has won 10 La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues with the Catalan club.
In April, Messi won his 35th trophy with the club as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 4-0 in the Copa del Rey final.
As so often before it was Messi who stole the show, notably with Barcelona’s third goal and the Argentine’s first in the game.
Starting well inside his own half, Messi exchanged passes with Sergiño Dest, before whizzing forward and doing the same with Frenkie De Jong further up the pitch.
De Jong’s return past found Messi inside the penalty area and the Argentine skipped between two Bilbao defenders and coolly slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
It’s the kind of genius that fans have become accustomed to seeing when watching the diminutive No. 10 and it brought back memories of the opening goal in the 2015 Copa del Rey final — also against Bilbao — widely considered one of Messi’s greatest ever.
But the Copa del Rey triumph was Barcelona’s first trophy since 2019.
“It is very special to be captain of this team where I have spent my whole life,” Messi said after the game. “And very special to be able to lift the cup.”
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (Catalan pronunciation: [fubˈbɔl ˈklub bəɾsəˈlonə] (About this soundlisten)), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça ([ˈbaɾsə]), is a Spanish professional football club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Spanish, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto “Més que un club” (“More than a club”). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the fourth-most valuable sports team in the world, worth $4.06 billion, and the world’s richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €840.8 million.[2][3] The official Barcelona anthem is the “Cant del Barça”, written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.[4] Barcelona traditionally play in dark shades of blue and red stripes, leading to the nickname Blaugrana.