The World’s highest-paid footballer Lionel Messi’s three-year contract with Barcelona expired on Wednesday. Now, it will be exciting to see whether Messi extends the contract or Join another team.
Although Barcelona was hopeful of signing Messi to renewal before the June 30 deadline, now he is officially a ‘free agent’.
A few weeks ago the Spanish football writer Guillem Balague said, “Messi’s contract renewal is new president Joan Laporta’s main priority. He is currently negotiating it directly with Messi’s father and representative, Jorge Messi. To be able to keep the Argentine, the club will have to reduce their wage bill by around 200m euros (£172m) to meet La Liga’s Financial Fair Play requirements.”
“Messi knows of the interest from other clubs. But up to now has not negotiated anything with them, waiting first to hear what Barcelona were offering,” he added.
‘Unhappy’ with Barcelona
The 34-year-old’s relations with the club haven’t been good since he had his request to leave the club denied at the end of the 2019-20 season. After suffering a humiliating 8-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, Messi said that he was unhappy with the direction of the team, where he has played for more than 20 years.
According to the reports, there are few rumors Paris Saint-German and Manchester City has shown interest to buy him.
Messi’s records for the Barcelona
Lionel Messi has been a star performer for Barcelona over the years. He made his debut at the age of 17 in 2004 for Barcelona. Since then, he has scored 672 goals in 778 appearances. He is the leading scorer and has the most appearances as a player for the club. He has won 35 titles in 17 seasons for Barcelona. Messi has won the Ballon d’Or award six times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2019) with the club. He is also the top scorer in the Spanish league with 474 goals in 520 games.
Messi is currently in Brazil playing for Argentina at the Copa America. And he will play the quarterfinals against Ecuador on Saturday night. Earlier this week, he became Argentina’s most-capped player. He achieved this feat when he made his 148th international appearance against Bolivia on Tuesday. He is also the leading scorer in the tournament currently.