Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu hasn’t been on the job long, but it’s no surprise that he’s already been asked about the future of superstar Lionel Messi.
Bartomeu appeared on a radio show to make the comments, and Barcelona linked the interview to their web site.
The crux of the discussion is that Messi is a fantastic player, imitable, wonderful and not going anywhere.“The club will sit down and negotiate a new contract. We will do what we have to, to ensure he’s the best-paid player.”
The interview comes in the wake of many rumors involving transfer pursuit from the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. Messi just signed a two-year contract extension last February and there was an awkward non-battle with a board member last month regarding whether a wage increase was deserved.
Injuries have stopped the 26-year-old from replicating his absurdly prolific 2013-14, at least not yet. He’s scored 20 goals in 22 matches over all competitions for club and country, but his eight goals in 12 La Liga matches are a far cry from his 46 in 28 last season.
Ignore last season, however, and he’s doing about what he’s done in the past (although he’s twice gone three matches without a goal this season. He only did that once last season, and in those three matches he registered four assists (he has one in each stretch this year).
Maybe it’s obvious, and perhaps Barca’s exaggerating a bit, but make yourself the chairman of the Barca board: would you have any fears about making Lionel Messi the world’s richest player?