Messi is now a free agent
 

Time to get out the popcorn and watch the fighting begin :spin2:

Laporta says he will renew his contract at Barcelona

https://www.telegraphindia.com/sport...al/cid/1820768

Don’t worry, says Barcelona president Joan Laporta on Lionel Messi’s contract renewal

His future has been a mystery since he had his request to leave the club denied at the end of the 2019-20 season

Lionel Messi’s contract with Barcelona was on the verge of ending on Wednesday midnight with no news from the player or the club about his future.

The expectation is that the 34-year-old Messi, who is playing with Argentina at the Copa America, will stay at the Catalan club. He reportedly had been close to reaching a deal to extend his contract for two more years.

Messi’s future has been a mystery since he had his request to leave the club denied at the end of the 2019-20 season. He ended up staying and said he would reconsider his options when this season was over.

A lot has changed since he announced he wanted to leave the club. That decision was made not long after the team’s embarrassing 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarter finals of the Champions League, one of the worst defeats in the club’s and Messi’s history.

But since then, Barcelona has a new coach in Ronald Koeman and a new president after the resignation of Josep Bartomeu, who was at odds with Messi.

In came Joan Laporta, who won the club’s presidential election in part because of his good relationship with the Argentina star. He was the president when Messi’s career started. Laporta said recently he was optimistic that Messi would renew his contract.

When asked about Messi’s future on Wednesday, he briefly said “don’t worry”.

Messi excelled again this season despite staying against his wishes. He led the Spanish league in scoring with 30 goals and helped the team win the Copa del Rey title.

In Messi’s previous contract, signed in 2017, he reportedly earned $164 million per season.

Messi will sign a new contract at Barcelona on Friday, with a huge reduction of his current salary, 50% less

and a escape clause of 360 million, if another team wants to sign him

https://www.marca.com/en/football/ba...7558b468b.html

How Messi and Barcelona reached their historic renewal agreement
A look at the various aspects to the new deal

Barcelona are set to officially announce Lionel Messi's contract renewal in the coming days. The club will almost certainly break the news next week, after lawyers have reviewed the terms of the deal.

Messi is set to stay linked to the club for the next five years, he will have his salary halved and he will have a release clause of 350 million euros.

Some parts of his contract were difficult to reach an agreement on, while others were sorted in a matter of seconds. Here we look at how they reached fresh terms.

The salary reduction
Messi will earn half of the salary he received with his previous contract. There was no discussion about this and the player accepted the offer immediately, aware of the delicate situation the club finds itself in. He was always insistent that money was not an obstacle in the deal.

The money freed up can also be used to improve the squad ahead of the new season.

The length of the contract
This aspect of the contract was more complicated, with Messi finally renewing for five years. There were many suggestions put forward by the club in recent months, though, with 10 years being talked about, or two, or even a rolling contract. But, all were rejected.

It now remains to be seen whether the Argentine will see out the full five years or move to the MLS after two seasons.

Caution with the tax office
This was unnegotiable for Messi. He wanted to be absolutely certain that any payment agreed on was above board and legal.

For this reason, Barcelona worked closely with tax authorities to ensure legality and, after being given the green light, the player accepted.

The role of sponsors
Joan Laporta wanted the deal done as soon as possible, and not only for sporting reasons. There were various sponsors who were waiting for Messi's renewal. Having the best player in the world in the team naturally affects sponsors' decisions and many major companies were asking about whether he was going to continue, including Rakuten.

Some sponsors were negotiating new deals and other companies were looking to invest for the first time, but all only if Messi were to stay at the club.

Deferred payments
This was also a complicated matter, related to the tax office. Messi was owed approximately 80 million euros, either for defaults or deferred payments from other seasons.

One of the most complex issues in the deal was how to deal with these payments and it was made more difficult because of the large sums involved.

The sporting project
This was one of the most important questions for Messi. The Argentine wanted to stay at Barcelona, but only if the team was competitive and able to fight for trophies.

He's aware of the financial situation at the club at the moment and how this affects the footballing side of things.

He saw how they moved fast to sign players like Eric Garcia, Memphis Depay and Sergio Aguero, but there is still work to do.

even without a contract, Messi will go to Barcelona training as of August 2nd