Rumours can stop now.
Lionel Messi and Barcelona have put to bed any rumours that the star could leave the club over the coming months after the Argentine signed a new contract up to the end of the 2020/21 season.
Signed on Saturday morning, the deal means by the time Messi leaves nearing his 35th birthday he will have spent 17 years at the club.
And he won’t be leaving anytime soon with the buyout clause that has been set for the 30-year-old as Barcelona have agreed that for a club to pry their best player away it would cost a measly €700m.
After the departure of Neymar in the summer and Messi’s contract nearing its completion date, there were concerns that he could leave the club possibly to rejoin his former teammate at PSG or in England.
[BREAKING NEWS] All the details about the new contract between Barça and Lionel #Messi https://t.co/P0Oxn4NjTQ #Messi2021 pic.twitter.com/IWgCTe7M34
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 25, 2017
But that has now been put to rest as Messi will look to continue his remarkable career at Barcelona that has earned him four Ballon d’Or awards, 30 titles and 523 goals in 602 games.
Messi joined Barcelona from Newell’s Old Boys back in 2000 and the rest is history as they say but this season he has been looking as sharp as ever having already netted 12 goals in La Liga, three more than his closest competitor as well as netting a further three goals in the Champions League.
Although no wages have been revealed by the club it can be speculated that it will at least equal his previous contract but, more than likely, improve on the terms of Messi’s previous contract meaning that he could be rivalling Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of pay too.
Last year, Messi ranked third in Forbes’ sporting rich list behind Ronaldo and LeBron James with the site reporting that Messi made a not so shabby $80m with $53m coming from wages and winning, $5m less than Ronaldo at Real Madrid.
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