Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has been at the centre of countless rumours in recent months, but his father has moved to clear up the situation.
The speculation essentially stems from the fact that the Argentine international has yet to sign a new contract extension, despite the fact that teammates Neymar and Luis Suarez have committed their respective futures.
In turn, that has naturally led to claims that other European giants are lining up to swoop in the event that the 29-year-old leaves, with Barca also having reported financial difficulties in raising the funds needed to satisfy his demands, as noted by The Sun.
However, Jorge Messi, his father, has seemingly had enough of all the talk and has categorically ruled out the chances of his son leaving the Catalan giants.
“There is no danger Messi will leave Barcelona,” he is quoted as saying by The Sun,
“Negotiations have been underway for a few days now. We are only dealing with only talking to [=club president Josep] Bartomeu. No one else.
“There is already a date set for when the deal will be sorted.”
The eight-time La Liga champion has been with Barca since 2001 and is widely expected to spend the rest of his career at the club, having bagged a staggering 480 goals in 555 appearances already.
Further, he shows no signs of a decline either as he has registered 27 goals and nine assists in 25 games so far this season, with Barca showing that they can’t be discounted in the race for silverware, either at home or in Europe, this year.
The latest update will be a huge relief for supporters of the La Liga outfit, but the news is arguably what many interested parties expected all along as we all wait to see when and for how long Messi commits his future to Barcelona.