Messi agrees four-year contract extension worth £500,000 per week

Barcelona have broken the bank to keep talismanic forward Lionel Messi by announcing a new £500,000 per week contract renovation with a buy-out clause likely in the region of €300million (£264m).

The mouth-watering contract brings to an end months of nervousness among Barca faithful who had a hard time figuring out Messi’s next move ahead of his previous contract which expires in June 2018.

Following the new deal, Messi, who joined Barca as a 13-year-old, has now tied his future to the club until 2021, with the option of an extra year, Daily Mail writes.

Messi recently tied the knot with long-term partner Antonella Roccuzzo shortly after his 30th birthday, and will return from honeymoon in the Caribbean next week to ink the deal that puts his new salary at £26.4m per season after tax.

Lionel Messi marries childhood sweetheart Antonella Roccuzzo.

The Argentine maestro will be 34 in June 2022 when the deal ends. If he takes up the extra year, he will be able to top-up his earnings by around 20 per cent in total if he meets various targets such as winning La Liga, the Champions League and Ballon d’Or.