Lionel Messi: Barcelona forward agrees new deal
Last updated on .From the section European Football
Barcelona striker Lionel Messi has agreed a contract extension which will keep him at the club until 2021.
The 30-year-old, who joined Barca aged 13, will sign the deal when he returns to training from pre-season.
"The club is very happy with the renewal and commitment of Messi, the best player in history," said the La Liga club.
The Argentina forward has scored a club-record 507 goals in 583 matches since his competitive debut in 2004.
Messi, who is currently on honeymoon after marrying childhood sweetheart Antonela Roccuzzo, is also La Liga's record scorer on 349 goals.
'Marvel in his greatness'
Spanish media say the new deal contains a 300m euro (£263m) buy-out clause and comes after Messi reportedly rejected an initial offer in May.
In a statement, Barca said Messi has "led the team to an era of extraordinary success, the likes of which has never been seen in world football".
"Leo Messi will not stop there - the Argentinian is in one of the best moments of his career and still has a lot more left to give, which is music to the ears of all Barca fans who will get to continue marvelling at his greatness for at least another four years," the statement added.
Messi's previous deal was scheduled to end in the summer of 2018.
The striker has been previously linked with a move to Manchester City but his new contract ties him to the 24-time La Liga winners until he is 34.
Since breaking into the first team under former Barca boss Frank Rijkaard, Messi has won eight La Liga titles, the Champions League four times and the Copa del Rey on five occasions.
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Messi is from another world.
Some English fans really need to get over this idea that the epl is the best league. Maybe it was, maybe it's still the most entertaining. But La Liga is now better quality.
The top 7 English sides have been shown up in europe for years now. And there's a big gap between our top 7 and the rest. Everton finished 15 points above 8th this season.
Champions League for several years. Not sure why people think Messi would struggle
against inferior opposition because he was playing on a Tuesday night and it was
raining! Really?
Best couldn't even look after his own body let alone a football most of the time.
Being the greatest means not only talent but work rate, consistency, effort and a whole lot of other things that Best didn't have.
Napoli was the Man City of Italy in the 1980s. A so-so club that got got rich owners (with Mafia connections) and started buying top players. They bought Maradona from Barca for a world-record fee, then they added Alemao (Brazil starting midfielder), Careca (Brazil's top striker) and 5 Italian internationals.