Lionel Messi has signed a new contract with Barcelona until 2021, the Liga leaders confirmed, ending speculation that the five-time world player of the year could leave the club where he has spent his entire career for free in June next year.
“FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi signed on Saturday morning a new contract that will keep the Argentine superstar at the Club through the 2020-21 season,” a statement from Barca said, alongside a photograph of Messi signing the deal.
“The buyout clause was set at 700 million euros [US$835.3 million],” it added.
Messi, 30, in July agreed on the contract with Barcelona, but the club did not release the usual photograph of the player putting pen to paper, fueling speculation he could depart when his previous deal ran out.
Messi is Barca’s all-time top scorer with 523 goals in all competitions and has won eight Liga, five King’s Cup and four Champions League titles since making his debut for the Catalan club in 2004, having joined their youth academy in 2000 at 13.
He leads the La Liga scoring charts with 12 goals and on Friday picked up this year’s European Sports Media Golden Shoe for being the top scorer in a domestic league last season with 37 goals.
“We should have signed this a long time ago and now we have and I’m happy to continue with the club, which is my home,” Messi told Barca’s official television channel. “My dream was to finish my career at Barca and we are moving down that path. Our objective is to continue achieving great things, fill the trophy cabinet and keep making history.”
Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu hinted that Messi’s buy-out clause had been cranked up from 300 million euros in the agreement in June up to 700 million euros after the club in August lost Neymar to Paris St Germain after the French giants paid the Brazilian international’s clause of 222 million euros.
“It’s a new contract that we have signed today, because although the one we signed in June was up to par with his greatness as a player, the new one is more in line with the current situation in the ever-changing world of football,” Bartomeu said.
“It fills me with pride to see him with us renewing his love for the club,” he added.
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