Lionel Messi signs a new Contract with FC Barcelona

Neymar’s €222 million release clause was offset by PSG in an enviable fashion, and recent media reports say Lionel Messi‘s inflated price-tag of €300 million may not be impossible for clubs to pay off with the right financial backing.

Image: Lionel Messi

However, recent reports confirm the Argentina international footballer has put pen to paper at Camp Nou.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, as per Diario Sport, the 54-year-old president said Messi’s father signed his son’s contract.

Josep also pointed out that the only ritual which is yet to be observed is flaunting a picture of the footballer doing it by himself.

“Messi’s buyout clause is only €80m more than Neymar’s but €700m less than Cristiano and Bale’s. Why take the risk, eh?” sports analyst Andrew Gaffney questioned media speculations that the Argentine was heading out of Camp Nou.

Josep assured that an agreement to keep Messi at Barcelona has been reached. The president is said to be happy with Neymar’s exit from Barca for a fact that it brought an end to his club’s over-dependence on the MSN trio.

“It’s an opportunity for Barcelona to break the trident and to bet on collective play,” the embattled president said.

“[The trident has] been really good but it’s had consequences. It’s an opportunity to play a return to collective football in midfield, which is traditionally Barca’s strength,” he added.

“[The squad is] better. Better on the right flank and in midfield. We can counter-attack and with Paulinho we’ve got a lot of strength. And up front we have players like [Gerard] Deulofeu and [Ousmane] Dembele.”

“Internally there’s no pessimism. People think Neymar’s exit weakens the team. The opposite. We have to take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen the team – Josep. 

On Messi’s new contract, he said: “It’s all agreed and signed. There are three contracts.

“One with the Messi Foundation, which is signed by its president and the player’s brother, an image rights contract with Messi signed by his father, who is the administrator of his company, and his employment contract, which his father signed — he has the power to do so.

“(What remains is) that Leo arrives and we have the official photograph and the protocol of the signature. The contract is signed and it’s valid from the month of June, June 30, the same day he got married.”