Barcelona are reportedly planning to extend Lionel Messi’s contract by at least a further year.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Barca believe they will need ‘Messi’s greatness and huge professionalism’ beyond 2021, when his current deal expires.
Although the newspaper leads with a renewal to keep him at the club until 2022, there would also be scope for an extra season if both agree to it.
MD notes no new contract will be signed until the following campaign but assures the Blaugrana are confident of making the No 10 ‘a one-club man’.
The 31-year-old last put pen to paper in November 2017, and the publication claims the deal included a clause that would let him leave Camp Nou for nothing in 2020, providing he joined a ‘non-elite’ side.
Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta were two such cases as they signed for Al Sadd and Vissel Kobe respectively, while Messi is on record as stating he would like to end his career in Argentina with Newell’s Old Boys.
