‘Messi will be world’s best paid footballer’
26 March 2014 6:52 AM IST
The four-time World Player of the Year has a contract with the Catalan giants until 2018, but Bartomeu said talks were on-going with the player’s father and principal agent Jorge Horacio Messi over a deal that would surpass the five-year contract Cristiano Ronaldo signed with Real Madrid in September last year.
‘We are in the midst of the season, so it is not the moment to be negotiating with him, but it is the moment to talk to the agents and with his father and that is what we are doing,’ Bartomeu said.
‘We will talk with them about how we see the player. He is our star and he has a contract until 2018 because we want him to participate in our future, but there is the will within the club that he becomes the best paid player in the world. ‘He is the number one and, as we have said various times, he also deserves to be the best paid player in the world.’
Messi had been plagued by muscular injuries early in the season, but has recently returned to top-form as he has scored a hat-trick in consecutive games, most recently, in Sunday’s thrilling 4-3 win away to Real Madrid.
After scoring the winner with his third goal of the night seven minutes from time at the Bernabeu, Messi kissed the Barca badge on his shirt several times in an uncharacteristic show of exuberance.
And contrary to some rumours linking him with a move to free-spending Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester City, Bartomeu is convinced that Messi is determined to remain at Barca for many years.
‘Here there is no doubt. Leo Messi arrived here as a 13-year-old and is now 26, soon to be 27. You see how he plays, he is a decisive player and has led all the success Barca has had over the past few years. That is why he has a contract until 2018.’
‘We are in the midst of the season, so it is not the moment to be negotiating with him, but it is the moment to talk to the agents and with his father and that is what we are doing,’ Bartomeu said.
‘We will talk with them about how we see the player. He is our star and he has a contract until 2018 because we want him to participate in our future, but there is the will within the club that he becomes the best paid player in the world. ‘He is the number one and, as we have said various times, he also deserves to be the best paid player in the world.’
Messi had been plagued by muscular injuries early in the season, but has recently returned to top-form as he has scored a hat-trick in consecutive games, most recently, in Sunday’s thrilling 4-3 win away to Real Madrid.
After scoring the winner with his third goal of the night seven minutes from time at the Bernabeu, Messi kissed the Barca badge on his shirt several times in an uncharacteristic show of exuberance.
And contrary to some rumours linking him with a move to free-spending Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester City, Bartomeu is convinced that Messi is determined to remain at Barca for many years.
‘Here there is no doubt. Leo Messi arrived here as a 13-year-old and is now 26, soon to be 27. You see how he plays, he is a decisive player and has led all the success Barca has had over the past few years. That is why he has a contract until 2018.’
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