Barcelona are reportedly eager to reach an agreement to extend Lionel Messi’s contract at the club beyond 2021.
The 31-year-old has been with the Catalan giants since 2001, and has gone on to score an impressive 585 goals in 671 appearances for the senior side since.
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He’s unsurprisingly won a whole host of major honours, including nine La Liga titles and four Champions League trophies in what has been a glittering career.
Further, the Argentine icon has shown no sign of slowing down this season either, with 33 goals and 18 assists in 34 appearances thus far.
With Barcelona in the running for a treble still, it promises to be a crucial few months between now and the end of the season, but speculation is already building over a potential contract renewal for Messi.
According to Mundo Deportivo, club president Josep Maria Bartomeu is eager to extend his stay at the Nou Camp to 2022 at the very least, or perhaps for an additional year beyond that too.
Given he continues to produce at the highest level and remains a fundamental figure for Barca with a great chance of winning more trophies year in and year out, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal to suggest that Messi would want to leave.
In turn, signing a renewal would seem like a real possibility, with the report adding that it ties in with the presidential elections and so Messi would remain beyond Bartomeu’s tenure to help his successor continue the club’s success.
Meanwhile, plans to strengthen the squad around Messi are continuing too it seems, as Mundo Deportivo also report that Barcelona have now scouted and watched Luka Jovic live on 15 separate occasions.
They’ll likely be impressed with what they’ve seen from the 21-year-old this season in particular, having scored 21 goals and provided seven assists in 33 appearances on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Signing talented young players to complement the stalwarts in the squad seems like the transfer strategy for Barca now, with the likes of Arthur, Jean-Clair Todibo and Frenkie de Jong all being signed over the past 12 months.
Coupled with a potential renewal for Messi to extend his stay until 2023, the future could be looking very bright for Barcelona in the coming months, with Jovic a possible long-term replacement for Luis Suarez up front given he turned 32 this year.
