Barcelona relies on a face-to-face meeting with Lionel Messi to check it out and convince him to stay.
Talks with Messi’s father, who is also his agent, are expected this week in Barcelona, but the club also hopes to talk to the player himself.
Messi received a two-year contract extension, a club official familiar with the stage told The Associated Press, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the user is legal to speak publicly about the matter.
The contract would last the 2022-2023 season, both parties had already agreed in advance for maximum terms a few months ago, according to the club official.
Barcelona and Messi have not spoken out since the Argentine said last week that he was looking to leave the club, which made his announcement 11 days after the end of the season with an 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The humiliating defeat of 14 August culminated a confusing season for Barcelona, the first since 2007–08.
Messi then invoked a clause that would allow him to let it loose at the end of the season, but Barcelona said the clause expired in June.Messi’s staff say the end of the season was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Neither has given in yet, as Messi did not show up for education with the rest of the team this week and Barcelona said it would possibly not facilitate his departure.
Barcelona reiterated its position that he was looking for Messi to stay at the club and that he did not intend to negotiate his signing.Its contract ends in June 2021 and includes a termination clause of 700 million euros ($838 million).
The club’s president, Josep Bartomeu, spoke to Messi’s father for the first time on the phone after the loss to Bayern and informed him that Messi was frustrated and disappointed.They spoke several times after Messi announced his resolve to leave, the first non-public assembly between the two.Two are expected to take up position in the coming days.
The club hopes, however, that they can be able to make the factor by assembling Messi in user and convincing him that the most productive resolution for him is to stay.
Messi, who has said in the afterlife that he needs to end his career at Barcelona, has not publicly expressed his reasons for not leaving.He never named Bartomeu directly in his complaint about the club, but the president said yes last week.was in a position to resign if Messi discussed it as the problem.
Barcelona said they were not talking to any club about a transfer imaginable, but that it was open to the negotiation of players who, according to incoming coach Ronald Koeman, were not included in their plans, adding Luis Suarez, Arturo Vidal and Samuel Umtiti.
Ivan Rakitic, who is also on the list, signed through Sevilla on Tuesday.
The other three are with the rest of the team for now, joining Suarez, Team-mate and friend of Messi, who said a deal had not yet been reached for his transfer.
Barcelona will start the new season against Villarreal in the Spanish league at the end of September.
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