Messi rejects new contract with Barcelona

Lionel Messi will not sign a contract extension with Barcelona and will see out his deal before deciding his future, it has been claimed in Spain.

Reports from Madrid-based sports daily Marca claim that the Argentinean superstar communicated his decision to the Nou Camp club in mid-July while on holiday with his partner, Antonella Roccuzzo, and two children, Thiago and Mateo.

The pursuit of Messi by Spanish tax authorities is reportedly one of the reasons behind his unhappiness, but Barcelona still remain optimistic on renewing the 29-year-old’s contract.

Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu has recently sealed extensions for a number of key players, including Sergio Busquets, Neymar and Javier Mascherano. Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen are all waiting for improved deals too, and Bartomeu claimed last month that he isn’t worried about Messi’s future and will begin negotiations with the world’s best player in January.

‘We will have negotiations with Messi in the next couple of months,’ he told The Telegraph.

‘Right now Leo Messi has a contract to the end of the Russian World Cup [in 2018] and we are very happy with him. Very happy. He’s the best player in the world, by far.

‘I don’t know what will happen in the future but of course we will always try to explain to him that he is at the best club in the world and this is the best place for him to live and he is living the best experience of his life with us.

‘He is still only 29. And if you see him playing it seems like he is one of our very young players. Leo Messi reinvented himself two years ago and changed the way he played and he is a better player now than he was then, a much better player.

‘So normally players increase and then reduce but he is still growing. So where are the limits? We don’t know.’

Source: The Sun