Barcelona fans can pop their champagne bottles. The news they had been waiting for for a long time had finally arrived.Lionel Messi said yes! The best football player of Barcelona, maybe the best in the 21st century, maybe the best of all time, confirmed to the president of the club, Joan Laporta, that he will sign a new contract, Spanish Cope announced and all relevant media in the country reported.???? Informa @MigRico ????Messi ha comunicado a Laporta que acepta la oferta de renovación????️Firmará por un año. Han hecho una consulta a @LaLiga y el consejo es que renueve solo por un año. La próxima temporada renovará por otro año más. pic.twitter.com/wm2nppaMgD— Tiempo de Juego (@tjcope) June 22, 2021 What is interesting about the contract is that Messi will sign a 1 + 1 deal – first, he will extend his loyalty to the club until the summer of 2022, so that Barcelona can “iron out” the finances before the La Liga control court performs their regular check. In such way the two-year contract would not seriously burden the budget in the beginning.Then the Argentine will sign a new one-year contract next summer, which essentially means he will be a Barcelona footballer until June 2023.The only question is when all that will be made official, and it won’t be for at least another ten days, because Lionel is completely focused on Copa America, where he is leading Argentina in their pursuit of his first big trophy with the national team.Copa America quarter-finals for Argentina – Messi one match away from being the most capped Gaucho everOnly when the competition is over and Messi returns to Barcelona, it will be announced that he will sign a new contract and stay at the club. Although, it was all pretty clear on the day when his best friend Sergio Aguero arrived at the Nou Camp.Lionel Messi has been in Barcelona since 2000, he came from Argentina when he was 13 years old. To date, he has played 778 games for the giant from the Nou Camp, scored 672 goals with 305 assists and won trophies galore: four Champions Leagues, three club World Cups, ten Spanish championship titles…
