Barcelona club president Juan Laporta revealed today, Friday, that negotiations with Argentine star Lionel Messi - about renewing his contract with the team - are going well, and that he is preparing to meet again with Dutch coach Ronald Koeman.
To decide about his future in the team.
Messi's current contract with Barcelona is scheduled to end at the end of next June, but the club is negotiating for the continuation of the Argentine star in its ranks.
Messi - who turns 34 next month - pressed for leaving the ranks of Barcelona last year, but he was forced to continue and scored 30 goals for the team in 35 games in the Spanish League to be crowned again the top scorer for the competition, knowing that Barcelona finished the season in third place in the league behind the champion Atletico Madrid and runner-up Real Madrid.
Laporta revealed Messi's position at a lengthy press conference held today, Friday, in which he spoke about several issues, confirming the approaching conclusion of new deals.
"Things are going well about Messi's contract renewal, but the matter is not settled yet," Laporta said.
"We are working hard, and all the executives that we have appointed here are working hard to give him a good offer. We are working to give him an offer that is within our capabilities and we hope that it is acceptable to the player."
He continued, "I see that our relationship is wonderful .. Messi loves Barcelona .. Of course we all want him to continue, and we hope that he stays with Barcelona."
Barcelona is expected to sign defender Eric Garcia and striker Sergio Aguero at the end of the two players' contracts with Manchester City next month.
"We aspire to improve the current team and we are working on it very seriously," Laporta said. "Next week, we will talk about the newcomers to the first team ... You will see results after the work we provide."
It is not clear whether Koeman will continue to coach the team as part of the new Barcelona project.
The Dutch coach is scheduled to hold a new round of talks with Laporta in the near future, after Koeman finished his first season in coaching the Catalan team.
Coman and his manager had met Laporta a few days earlier;
They had preliminary talks with him.
"There are no transitional seasons in Barcelona. We (the new board of directors) arrived during the season and said that we will present our assessment to the coach at the end of the season and then announce our decisions after that," Laporta said.
"We have always worked with the utmost appreciation for Ronald Koeman. Of course, we admire him as a player who won the European Cup with us at Wembley, and he still has a contract at the moment," he added.
"We spoke with Koeman and will continue to talk to him when important decisions are made," he said.
Laporta also faced questions about the rumors about Xavi and Pep Guardiola, two legendary names for Barcelona, and it was rumored that they could be potential alternatives to Koeman.
Laporta replied, "Out of our respect for Koman, he has a happy contract and we do not rule out continuing with the team. We are in talks."