Can Lionel Messi make his mark on the Champions League again, or is it time for a fresher face to be the big star of the competition?
Lionel Messi AFP / Josep LAGO

KEY POINTS

  • Lionel Messi will stay with FC Barcelona
  • Barca had clauses and conditions on new deal
  • Messi will have his ninth contract renewal of career

Lionel Messi is now close to signing an extension deal with FC Barcelona, a report said, as the football club has reportedly reached out to the Argentine star’s father, Jorge Messi, to inform him that the team intends to keep his son “for some more year.”

According to football site Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona stays true to its word of keeping their captain as team president Josep Bartomeu has said countless times that the 32-year-old club cornerstone could stay “whenever he wants.”

Messi’s contract with the Spanish club is set to expire in June 2021, but it was told that Bartomeu knew from the start that the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist will not be going anywhere else. As Juan Jimenez of Spanish website Diario As Espana put it, “(Bartomeu) has also been confident that the Argentine will indeed renew, in spite of some rumors that he may be tempted away for a final challenge elsewhere. Bartomeu's clear objective is to get this particular extension sorted. “

On the night he captured his record sixth Ballon d’Or not a month ago, it appeared that Lionel Messi already hinted his fans about the future of his career when he said that FC Barcelona is “the best club in the world.” "It's great to be part of Barcelona's history, the best club in the world. It really is a pride, it's the club I love,” Messi said in his acceptance speech. "What I feel towards Barça goes beyond any signature and any paper."

It was initially reported in October last year that Barcelona was already sorting out the extension and other clauses that the club would offer Messi. Also according to Mundo Deportivo, as posted by Jimenez, Barca planned to set a condition on a one-year extension deal for Messi that would state that the celebrated footballer is allowed to leave the club in 2020 under a strict condition that he transfers to a non-elite club.

Contract renewal is not really new for Lionel Messi as he has been in the same talks of deal clauses and discussions eight times since 2005.

Soccer Football Lionel Messi