Lionel Messi has reportedly told Joan Laporta that he’ll sign a new contract with Barcelona according to Barcelona-based journalist Miguel Rico and carried by fellow Barcelona-based journalist Samuel Marsden.
Messi will sign a one-year deal first and then sign a longer-term contract in 2022, when the salary cap is looser and Barcelona’s financial situation is a little more solvent.
A bit of movement on Messi, perhaps. @migrico says he's told Laporta he will sign new deal (one year at first due to salary cap but will sign for longer in 2022)… & Laporta plugging a Messi documentary on Catalan TV later tonight. "Don't miss it." Could be unrelated, of course!
— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) June 22, 2021
Messi turns 34 this week and his contract with Barcelona comes to an end on June 30th, meaning for the first time since he arrived in Catalonia as a pimply-faced teenager he’ll no longer be contracted to the club.
Nobody would argue Messi’s playing at the level he did at his peak, but he’s certainly not in decline. Messi scored 30 goals in 35 La Liga appearances last season, contributing eleven assists.
Barcelona faltered at the end of the season, however, blowing a good position in the title race and suffering a humbling by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
The Blaugrana did win the Copa del Rey, however, with Messi unsurprisingly at the centre of their triumph. The Argentine scored a brace and produced a man-of-the-match performance as they beat Athletic Bilbao 4-0 in the final at La Cartuja.
