Lionel Messi will put pen to paper and secure his future at Barcelona until 2021 as Man City’s pursuit of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner will come to an end.
Goal have reported that Barcelona sporting director Robert Fernandez is confident that the Argentine will secure his future at the Spanish giants for another four years and in the process will dismiss interest from other clubs such as Man City.
Further, Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has stated on twitter that while pen has not yet been put to paper, there is no doubt that Messi’s contract will be signed eventually.
Messi has not signed his new contract with FCB. But it is all agreed and WILL sign it pic.twitter.com/Z4Q7C1cZJY
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 20, 2017
This comes as a blow to Man City supporters as just yesterday it was reported that Pep Guardiola’s side were prepared to trigger the Argentine’s release clause in what will have surely been the biggest move in world football.
TalkSport reported that City were ‘ready to pay’ Messi’s £275m (€300m) release clause and would do ‘everything to buy’ one of the world’s greatest stars of all time.
While it now looks increasingly likely that Messi will stay at Barcelona, he hasn’t yet inked the deal and so perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope for City supporters to cling to.