Barcelona have agreed a deal in principle with Lionel Messi to extend his contract at the Camp Nou.
The Argentinie international's current deal expires at the end of the next season. The talks over a new deal started in December 2016 and the two are yet to reach an agreement. Spanish outlet Cadena Ser claims the 29-year-old has decided to sign an extension for three years, with an option to extend it by further one year.
This means Messi will be at the Catalan club at least until 2021 and his new deal will include a release clause of €400m (£347.2m, $450m). The Catalan club's spokesman Joesp Vives confirmed in May that the club are very close to agreeing a deal with the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu personally led the negotiations over a new contract with the South American forward's father, Jorge Messi. The club were confident of reaching an agreement with their star player.
The news of the new contract will not be made official until 30 June for accounting reasons. Barcelona are planning to include Messi's new deal in club's next season's budget. Thus, the announcement will be made in July.
According to the programme EL Club de la Mitjanit on Catalan based TV3 via AS, Messi will earn €30m-a-year (£26.4m, $33.7m) after taxes. He has scored 54 goals across all competitions for Barcelona, which includes 37 league goals.
The La Liga outfit finished behind Real Madrid in the league, while were knocked out of finalists Juventus in the Champions League quarter-final. Barcelona finished the season with only one silverware, which came after winning the Copa del Rey. Messi scored one and registered an assist as his side defeated Alaves in the final.
With Messi's contract situation resolved, he will now join Neymar, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Javier Mascherano and Ivan Rakitic in the list of players who have committed their future at Barcelona.
