FOUR-TIME WORLD Player of the Year Lionel Messi has agreed terms on a new contract with Spanish giants Barcelona.
The club confirmed the news in a statement on their website.
“FC Barcelona has reached an agreement to adjust the terms in the contract binding Leo Messi to the club as a professional first team player. The revised and updated contract will be signed over the next few days.”
The deal is expected to see Messi overtake Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo as the biggest earner in world football and according to a report on the website of Barcelona-based newspaper Sport, it is worth €20m per season (£16.3m), plus further incentives.
“There is the will within the club that he becomes the best paid player in the world,” Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu said in an exclusive interview with AFP back in March.
“He is the number one and, as we have said various times, he also deserves to be the best paid player in the world.”
Messi has become a legend at Barcelona since making his debut in 2004 scoring 354 goals in 424 games making him the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Should Barca beat Atletico Madrid tomorrow the Argentine will win his seventh La Liga title and his 22nd trophy overall with the Catalans, including three Champions League titles.
However, despite scoring over 40 goals for a fifth consecutive campaign, Messi has had his most difficult year both on and off the field in his career.
The 26-year-old appeared in court in September over tax fraud allegations relating to his image rights, whilst the arrival of Brazilian star Neymar at Barcelona this season has challenged his position as top dog at the club.
Messi was also struck down by persistent hamstring injuries during the first-half of the season and returned to Argentina for a month in December to rest and recuperate away from the spotlight in the Catalan capital.
Its amazing how they sign 4 or 5 ywar contracts and then are signing a new contract the next year…
Because he’s worth it,unlike Rooney.
Nobody is worth that amount a week..
I believe I am .. Why not like !
Of course he is! Barca are making serious money off his back, so he’s therefore more than entitled to his chunk of change.
Barca are regularly in the top 3 biggest clubs in the world listings, thanks in no small way to Messi and his significant role in their recent success. Debt is dropping, revenue is projected to hit record highs, profit is being generated, all while he is the club icon during this period of massive wealth for the club.
I think that perhaps this whole misguided argument should be aimed more toward the overall spending power of these super-clubs and the chasm now being created between the elite and the also-rans, not toward the people that get only a certain percentage of the overall revenue they generate.
In fact, who else should get all this cash?
Glad city won’t get their hands on him..
City would never have got him in the first place.
Mustn’t be able to get his drugs program in the prem.
Probably the stupidest/least funny comment ever posted on this website
ignoramus
400k a week! That is some amount of fredos and loop de loops
Andrew hickey just because he’s better than everyone on the team u support he’s on drugs
There was no messin about wen singin that deal
Is that around 385,000 a week roughly so? Wow!
400k a week . It would pay a few bills alright
That is some amount of fredos and loop de loops.