Report: Ball in Messi’s court after Barcelona’s latest contract offer

According to CAT Radio sources, Lionel Messi has already been handed an offer for a contract renewal by the Barcelona board. The Argentine’s future continues to be a source of great deliberation, but there remains optimism within president Joan Laporta’s camp that he can be convinced to stay.

Messi has currently united with the Argentina national squad ahead of their upcoming World Cup qualifiers and of course, the Copa America which gets underway on the 13th of June. He took an early vacation and did not play Barcelona’s season ender vs Eibar.

Many reports suggest that Messi will decide on his future after the Copa America concludes, but the ball is now in his court as Laporta has tabled the final contract offer for the 33-year old, reportedly without actually waiting for results of the audit to evaluate Barcelona’s current financial predicament.

Messi is, of course, yet to break any silence on the matter and is supposedly waiting on the details of the sporting project to arrive at a final decision. More clarity on that front is reportedly set to follow as Joan Laporta has announced that he will conduct a press conference on Friday, the 28th of May, to discuss these matters as well as potential signings.

These sources highlight that the terms of this contract are similar to those reported a month ago, where Messi would be offered a very lengthy contract with amortised wages that would see him stay in Catalonia for two years before moving to the United States as a player/ambassador before returning in a technical capacity.

Now it is just a waiting game to see if these reports hold good. While Laporta may be able to offer more insight into the situation in tomorrow’s presser, the final decision rests with the Argentine superstar, for which we have no choice but to wait.