Messi to sign huge deal with Barca
He aggress to stay at Barca till 2021
Barcelona have announced Lionel Messis contract renovation with the buy-out clause likely to rise to 300million (264m).
Messi had left Barca supporters nervously trying to read the signs coming out of his camp as his current deal was allowed to run down to June 2018.
But that wait is finally over with the player ready to tie his future to the club he joined as a 13-year-old. The new contract will run until 2021, with the option of an extra year.
The 30-year-old all-time club-record goalscorer has been linked to the Premier League with last years tax evasion case almost sending him into the arms of Manchester City but Barcelona have renewed vows with their greatest-ever player.
Messi got married to long-term partner Antonella Roccuzzo last Friday and he is still on honeymoon in the Caribbean but when he returns to training next week he will sign his new deal.
His new net salary will go up to 26.4m per season, putting him on over 500,000 per week. Messi will be 34 in June 2022 when the deal ends if he takes up the extra year. That optional season will not be subject to him playing a certain amount of games the season before.
And the Argentine will be able to top-up his earnings by around 20 per cent in total if he meets various targets such as winning La Liga, the Champions League and Ballon dOr.
He will also receive a huge undisclosed signing-on fee, believed to be in excess of 23.2m.
A club statement read: FC Barcelona and Leo Messi have agreed on a contract renewal that will keep the Argentinian at the club until June 30th, 2021.
The deal will be signed in the coming weeks, when Messi returns to the team for pre-season training.
The club is very happy with both the renewal and the commitment of Messi, the best player in history, who has played his full professional career at Barca and has led the team to an era of extraordinary success, the likes of which has never been seen in world football.
He has scored a record 507 goals for Barcelona and netted 54 times in 52 appearances last season.
Messi has won the Ballon dOr five times, although just one of those awards have come in the last four years, with Real Madrids Cristiano Ronaldo expected to win again in 2017.
The Argentina international will turn 34 as this new contract reaches its conclusion.
