It has come to this – the largest contract in history of football, a four-year, 73 billion Ksh deal between Barcelona and Lionel Messi has just expired, and the contract extension was not signed! The best football player on the planet is a free agent now, and can sign for anyone, if he chooses so, even for your local club, without a penny paid to Barcelona.The clock is ticking: 48 hours left and Messi still hasn’t signed his extensionOff course, he can sign another one with his only European club in a matter of minutes, since Europe and Kenya have a one hour difference in time-zones, but if that was so easy, it would have been done days ago, avoiding all the speculations and media attention. Something is obviously not right here, and we are yet to find out what. The first appropriate date for signing the extension was June 24th, since it was Messi’s birthday, but it didn’t happen. Next suitable date was June 29th, when Laporta celebrated his birthday, but that day passed either. Now he is free to go, but the talks are ongoing and everybody are expecting the happy end. 💥 LAPORTA HACE UN FLORENTINO:🤣 “¿Renovará Messi? TRANQUILO”.Nos vemos a las 15:10 en #JUGONES @laSextaTV. 🎥 / @JosepSoldado 👇 pic.twitter.com/g3BjATcgly— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) June 30, 2021 Reports from Spain are suggesting that Barcelona hit several stumbling blocks in their attempt so secure Messi’s signature. The Argentinian is currently playing for his home country at the Copa America in Brazil, and president Laporta is negotiating the extension with his brother and father. The Spanish media caught up with Barca’s main man, who went to a meeting but didn’t stop to talk with reporters, only telling them: “keep calm”.At midnight tonight #Messi is unemployed !! Has he got a @LinkedIn profile? Professional looking photos? And what about references? pic.twitter.com/S5FTFuvJka— Joe Morrison (@joefooty) June 30, 2021 Messi has won 35 titles in 17 seasons with Barcelona. He helped the club win the Champions League four times, the Spanish league 10 times, the Copa del Rey seven times and the Spanish Super Cup eight times. He is the team’s all-time leading scorer with 672 goals in 778 appearances, and the top scorer in the Spanish league with 474 goals in 520 matches. He was the top scorer in the Spanish league in eight seasons and the top scorer in the Champions League on six occasions.Financial problems in Barca are continuing, as the cash strapped club are currently looking to offload players while reducing the salary to the current members of the squad, and Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto are currently negotiating new deals with the club.
