Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi is now officially a free agent after his contract with Spanish top La Liga side Barcelona. Twelve months on from his aborted attempted to leave Barcelona, and Lionel Messi is now out of agreement with the club.
His deal expired at midnight and despite months of rumour of him extending his contract with the club. The player and the club has failed to come to a mutual agreement to extend his contract. But reports suggest that the player and Barcelona are currently in talks for a new contract, but the player has not admitted it yet.
Spanish football writer Guillem Balague said earlier this week that Barcelona had “raised the level of urgency” in contract talks, with the hopes of giving him a two years contract. The president of the club Joan Laporta said he would try to renew the player’s contract.
He also said: “To be able to keep the Argentine, the club will have to reduce their wage bill by around 200m euros (£172m) to meet La Liga’s Financial Fair Play requirements.” “Messi knows of the interest from other clubs but up to now has not negotiated anything with them, waiting first to hear what Barcelona was offering.”
The likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Manchester United, with some clubs from the MLS, showed interest in the player the first tie his transfer saga news started.