Barcelona are reportedly willing to go no further than €35m for Lionel Messi’s new contract but remain hopeful of an agreement.
According to Marca, Messi is “the Blaugrana Totti”, in reference to the latter being a one-club man for Italian side Roma, and has already turned down net salaries of €50m from China.
The newspaper explains that Barca cannot afford such extravagant sums but are confident the No 10’s settled family life in Catalonia will come into play during negotiations.
This comes as his son is “schooled” by Barca, as are the children of close friends Luis Suarez and Gerard Pique, while he and his girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo are thought to only consider a return to their hometown of Rosario if they left Spain.
Furthermore, money is not the most important issue to Messi as the Argentine is keen to add more silverware to his already-glistening trophy cabinet in the final third of his career.
Marca concludes by stating his renewal will only take place once Barca finalise their number-crunching, with sponsorship deals covering a significant part of the costs.
Such a deal would still make Messi the best-paid player in European football, more so than arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
