Report: Lionel Messi agrees to Barcelona contract extension

Lionel Messi will be staying in Camp Nou for a while, as he has reportedly agreed in principle to a contract extension with Barcelona.

Barcelona and Lionel Messi are coming off a season this past year that they surely would love to forget, but early in the La Liga offseason, there is apparently some good news for both sides. According to a report from Spanish newspaper outlet Marca, Messi and the club have agreed on a contract extension that will keep him around until either 2021 or 2022.

Messi, undoubtedly one of the greatest players in the world, did not have a bad season by any means last year. Throughout all competitions, the international star netted 54 goals, but it still was not enough to help them capture La Liga or Champions League glory.

No, Messi and his squad had to deal with watching rival Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo get all of that glory this past season. Barcelona ended the year three points behind Real Madrid on the La Liga table, and then of course just last weekend they had to watch as they garnered themselves their 12th Champions League title by way of dismantling Juventus in the second half of the most important soccer match of the year in Europe.

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But in the end, this news is a step in the right direction for Barcelona. It goes without saying that locking up the man who many consider the best on the planet for the foreseeable future is a good way to get things rolling in what will be a very important offseason for the club. They’ve already been linked to PSG star Angel Di Maria in the past few days, so they’re trying to get the necessary pieces in place to grab the league title from Real Madrid next season.

For now, though, it appears they’ve locked up the most important piece to that puzzle.