A Spanish press report stated that Barcelona is seeking to renew its contract with Argentine star Lionel Messi until 2023 for 50 million euros per season.
The Dessemark website said the new contract would guarantee Messi, 32, the winner of the Golden Ball six times, to be the highest paid player in the world for a long time.
#Barcelona are working on Lionel # Messi's renewal until 2023 with a wages of € 50M a year. Talks ongoing to extend his contract. #transfers #FCB - Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) March 9, 2020N |
Barcelona is seeking to resolve the contract renewal at the earliest opportunity for two reasons: the first is that the current contract with Messi expires in 2021, and the second is that there is a clause in the contract that allows him to leave at the end of next June of each season after reaching 32 years.
The negotiations to renew Messi's contract began several months ago, and the length of the negotiations explains the talk of Barcelona sports manager Eric Abidal about the difficulty of obtaining the signature of his former teammate.
Abidal told the Spanish newspaper "AS" that "Messi has repeatedly said that Barcelona is everything for him, and that he wants to stay here, we are talking about the best player in the world, and renewing the contract with players of this type is not easy at all."
This picture here is of a 13 yo Lionel Messi's first professional contract; on a paper napkin. Carles Rexach, Barcelona's manager, did not have any paper nearby, but his urgency to sign Messi made him write the contract on a napkin lying around him. |
Messi started football since his childhood in Argentina before joining Barcelona in 2000 at the age of 13, and the first contract he signed with the club on a paper handkerchief became one of the most important documents in the history of football.
Messi has become Barcelona's top scorer throughout the ages by scoring 627 goals in 718 games, including 24 goals in 31 games in all competitions this season.