According to reports in Spain, Lionel Messi’s father met with Barcelona officials this week, but no progress was made over contract talks.
With the Argentine international’s current deal set to expire in June 2018, there is unsurprisingly an increasing amount of nervousness over the situation.
According to AS, Jorge, Messi’s father and agent, arrived in Barcelona to discuss a renewal, and while the meetings are described as being positive, the two parties didn’t move closer to an agreement.
That will be an ongoing and growing concern for the club, as with talks not getting anywhere, it will only strengthen the suggestion that Messi could be ready to look at his options at the end of the season.
While it’s claimed that the desire of the player is to stay at the Nou Camp, he won’t buckle with regards to his wage demands as he will undoubtedly wish to be rewarded by being the highest-paid player at the club above Neymar and Luis Suarez, both of whom have signed new deals in recent months.
Having spent his entire career with Barcelona, and given that he’s won countless trophies and claimed a copious amount of individual accolades while breaking all sorts of records, it’s still bitterly difficult to see the 29-year-old leaving and plying his trade for another club.
Nevertheless, if an agreement can’t be reached, then the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, who have the financial backing to make a move happen, will only grow more curious about their chances of prising him away from the Catalan giants.
It’s added in the report that no further meetings are scheduled with Jorge and the club, and so for the time being, it appears as though they’ve reached another impasse.