FIFA 17: Lionel Messi may not be the cover star for the game any more

Superstar may not renew his deal with EA Sports

Lionel Messi has been the face of the wildly popular FIFA series since 2013.

But, according to reports in France, the Barcelona star may not renew his deal with the game's developer EA Sports.

L'Equipe state that the door is still open for Messi to sign a new contract with the firm, but the company are already looking at alternatives.

Barca team-mate Neymar and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo are in contracts with rivals Konami for the PES series.

According to reports in Spain, the leading candidate to replace Messi is another Real Madrid star, James Rodriguez.

Rodriguez found himself out of favour and out of the team under Rafa Benitez, but now that the former Liverpool and Chelsea manager has been sacked, the €80million Colombian is likely to be put back into the side by new manager Zinedine Zidane.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was on the cover of the UK edition of FIFA 16 and the game still managed to sell 2.5m copies, to make it the best-selling game of 2015.

We're not sure it really matters who is on the front.