Huge boost for Barcelona fans as Barcelona superstar Messi is on the verge of signing a bumper new contract with the Spanish club.
And now Messi’s dad has flown to Barcelona to negotiate the player’s new mega-contract with the club.
According to football sources Lionel Messi has demanded a whooping £825,000-a-week to stay put at Nou Camp.
And therefore club president Josep Maria Bartomeu has invited Messi’s dad Jorge Horacio Messi to negotiate the contract.
It is believed that the Spanish club is not willing to pay Messi the whooping amount but they are looking forward to satisfy him through other means.
Barca are desperate to clinch more titles and have already tied down their other star players with long-term deals.
Neymar, Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets have all signed new deals since the start of the season and Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and Marc Andre Ter Stegen are set to follow the same.
Spanish daily Marca had claimed that the Argentine superstar had rejected a contract extension at Barcelona in July due to his on-going tax fraud case.
Argentina’s legendary footballer Lionel Messi had been sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud. A court in Barcelona found him guilty of three counts of tax fraud. The court had also sentenced the Argentine soccer player’s father, Jorge, to 21 months in prison for the same three crimes.
Leo was also sentenced to pay a fine of 2.1 million euros (around 2.4 million US dollars) while his father was fined 1.6 million for using companies outside of Spain to avoid paying 4.16 million euros earned from the players image rights between 2007-2009. The footballer had alleged in his defense that his father managed his financial affairs and that he had merely signed the papers.
But neither Messi nor his dad did serve actual time in prison for the offense.
The Argentine’s current contract is only valid until the next 18 months.
Manchester City and Chelsea are now the favourites to sign the 5 time Ballon d’Or winner as rumours claimed that both the Premier League clubs are keen on landing him with big money moves.
However,Barcelona president, Josep Bartomeu is confident that he can keep hold of Lionel Messi by tying him up with a new lucrative offer.
Like Andres Iniesta, Barcelona are ready to offer Lionel Messi a contract for life – meaning he can decide when he wants to call it a day.
However, it is now believed that Messi would use Manchester City to make sure that Barcelona would offer him a mammoth pay rise in order to tie him down.
And now Luis Suarez is also on the verge of extending his contract at Nou Camp.