Following in the footsteps of the Catalan TV channel TV3 also reports the Spanish public broadcaster TVE Thursday that Lionel Messi intends to stay with Barcelona. Jorge Messi, the star attacker’s father, has informed chairman Joan Laporta in a conversation that his son no longer aspires to a transfer. This has opened the door wide for a new contract; Messi’s current commitment expires in the summer.
Jorge Messi would have made it clear that the contract extension must be done under certain conditions. For example, the Messi camp believes that the team should be strengthened. Laporta and Jorge Messi had lunch together last week to discuss the future of Messi junior. The president of Barça could not yet go into financial details, because he is awaiting an audit that should clarify exactly how the club is doing financially. It is clear that Barcelona can no longer offer Messi’s current salary, which is above 130 million euros per year.
Messi is reportedly willing to take into account the financial difficulties facing his employer, it reported TV3 earlier in the day. The attacker’s father is said to have indicated in conversation with Laporta that he is open to an ‘imaginative long-term contract’, which Barcelona wants to offer him. The new commitment would consist of three phases. Firstly, Messi is supposed to be active as a Barcelona player for two more seasons. That way, the Argentinian can also optimally prepare for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Messi’s last chance to become world champion.
In the second phase, Messi moves to the United States. It is a long-cherished wish of the South American to play again in Miami, preferably with his good friend Luis Suárez, who went from Barcelona to Atlético Madrid last summer. Messi will have the opportunity to join Inter Miami FC, the club of chairman David Beckham. Once the six-time World Player of the Year has concluded his football career in America, he can return to an unspecified position at Barcelona in the third phase.
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Lionel Messi will perform in the game between Barcelona and Granada on Thursday evening.
A switch to, for example, Paris Saint-Germain seems to have been canceled. According to Javier Pastore, active in Paris between 2011 and 2018, Messi is a permanent target of the Ligue 1 superpower. “PSG has always wanted Messi. Every year,” the Argentinian, currently active at AS Roma, tells the newspaper. ASH. “They’ve jokingly asked me to convince Messi to come to Paris,” he added with a laugh. “I had to tell him that it is a beautiful city, that the club has an ambitious vision, etc. They also asked if I wanted to do that with Ángel Di María. I told them how nice life in Paris is and how strong the team was. But in the end I only convinced Ángel. “