Barcelona's schedule for completing Leo Messi's contract renewal
The player and his father are back in Argentina and talks should start in January when they return
After the renewals of Luis Suarez and Neymar, Lionel Messi is the next member of the trident in line to extend his contract with FC Barcelona. It's the club's top priority.
Talks, however, will not begin until 2017. The player and his father, Jorge, are now back in Argentina for Christmas, so negotiations will be parked until January. For the moment, there has not been contact between the parties, but Josep Maria Bartomeu is calm and confident that Messi's renewal will be completed as soon as possible.
The ideal time is that it's done by March, for that reason the initial plan is that conversations will not take more than two to three months and that the contract will be signed in the first trimester of the new year. It will be Bartomeu himself who takes control of this operation.
Luis Suarez, who said his happiness will be complete when Leo Messi says 'yes', renewed on Friday until 2021, with the option of an additional year. Neymar, meanwhile, was the first to extend his Camp Nou stay, committing to the club until 2021 earlier this year.
