Lionel Messi has agreed to a 5-Year contract extension with Barcelona on a wage cut of 50%.
Gatekeepers News reports that six-time Ballon d’Or winner, Lionel Messi is set to commit to fresh terms at Camp Nou.
Messi has verbally agreed to sign a new five-year contract at Barcelona and also accepted a 50 per cent wage cut as part of the terms of the deal.
The Argentine has spent his entire career to date at Barca, having initially made his debut for the club as a teenager in 2004. He was, however, dropped into the free agency pool after his contract expired at the end of June.
In the course of his last five-year contract, he earned a huge sum of €550 million (£468m/$650m) at Camp Nou, which equates to around €75m (£64m/$89m) per season.
However, Barca were unable to hand him similarly lucrative renewal terms after exceeding La Liga’s wage limit at the end of the 2020-21 campaign.
The League President, Javier Tebas warned that the Blaugrana could not legally register Messi without significantly reducing their salary costs, alongside the likes of Junior Firpo, Jean-Clair Todibo, Carles Alena, and Juan Miranda all subsequently sold to raise extra funds.
Messi who agreed to halve his yearly earnings in order to re-sign for Barca will be formally announced by the Club in the coming weeks after a few minor details have been sorted.
Although while Messi was available on a free transfer upon the expiration of his last deal, it was reported that Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, and Inter showed interest; the Argentina international has, however, chosen to stay with the La Liga club.
With this new deal, the 34-year-old won’t be embarking on a new challenge away from Camp Nou anytime soon.
