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Spanish LaLiga giants FC Barcelona and Argentinian midfielder Lionel Messi on Saturday announced the contract extension that will keep Messi at the Catalan club until the end of the 2020/21 season.
The buyout clause has been set at a record €700m. Thus, by the time the new deal expires, the 30-year-old striker will have spent 17 years with the first team.
Lionel Messi joined Barça back in 2000 as a 13-year-old, arriving from Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina. After impressing throughout the various youth categories, he made his first team debut at just 16 years of age in a friendly against FC Porto, before making his official debut the following season against Espanyol at the age of 17. Shortly after, he scored his first senior goal with a clever lob against Albacete at the Camp Nou.
The rest as they say is history. Leo Messi has since gone on to break just about every record and has become one of the greatest players in history of the game with a staggering numbers of goals, titles, records, and individual and team awards. Now, at 30 years of age, Messi is in his 14th season with the first team and, with his new deal, will be dressed in blaugrana for at least 17 seasons in total.
Messi has conquered just about everything, having racked up eight LaLiga titles, four UEFA Champions Leagues, five Copas del Rey, seven Spanish Super Cups, three European Super Cups, and three FIFA Club World Cups. His 30 titles are tied with teammate Andrés Iniesta for most in Club history.
Individually, he has won the Ballon d’Or award five times, more than any other Player in the history of the game, four Pichichi awards as the top scorer in the Spanish First Division, and four Golden Shoes as the top domestic scorer in Europe. Messi’s fourth Golden Shoe was officially handed over to him—by his friend and teammate, Luis Suárez only on Friday.
Throughout his career at Barça, the Argentinian No.10 has scored 523 goals in 602 games and is both the Club’s and La Liga’s all-time leading goalscorer.
