Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Lionel Messi to formally sign new Barcelona contract this week

World's best player has agreed a new contract

Pa
Tuesday 05 February 2013 14:12 GMT
Comments
<b>Lionel Messi's 86 goals, selected by Jack Pitt-Brooke</b><br/>
In a year when Cristiano Ronaldo finally beat him to the Spanish title, and scored stacks and stacks of wonderful, thrilling, important goals, Lionel Messi still found a way to mark himself
Lionel Messi's 86 goals, selected by Jack Pitt-Brooke
In a year when Cristiano Ronaldo finally beat him to the Spanish title, and scored stacks and stacks of wonderful, thrilling, important goals, Lionel Messi still found a way to mark himself

Lionel Messi will formally sign his new Barcelona contract when he returns from international duty later this week.

Barca announced the Argentina superstar was to extend his stay at the Nou Camp by a further two years in December. When he puts pen to paper he will be tied to the Catalan giants until June 30, 2018.

Messi is currently with the Argentina squad ahead of tomorrow's friendly in Sweden but will sign at the club offices on his return a day later.

He becomes the third big-name Barca player to commit his future to the club, following in the footsteps of Carles Puyol and Xavi.

Messi won his fourth straight FIFA World Player of the Year award in January following a remarkable 2012 in which he scored 91 goals - smashing the world record of 85 in a calendar year set by Bayern Munich and West Germany striker Gerd Muller in 1972.

His goal in Sunday's 1-1 draw at Valencia was a league-record 12th consecutive game in which he found the net.

Overall, he has scored 203 La Liga goals for Barca in 236 games.

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in