Spanish giants FC Barcelona have revealed they have agreed terms with Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi on a new deal keeping him at the club until 2018.
The Argentine attacker, who has scored a record-breaking number of goals during the 2012 calendar year, is expected to sign the deal in the coming weeks having agreed to extend his contract, which was due to expire in 2016.
Messi’s new deal follows that signed by Xavi and Carles Puyol, who have committed until 2016.
“This news means that FC Barcelona has secured its ties with three of its most important players,” the club said in its statement.
“It is very satisfying for the board to extend a successful project by renewing Xavi, Puyol and Messi,” a spokesman for the club’s management Toni Freixa told a news conference.
“They are three basic pillars of the best Barcelona team in history. It was very necessary to keep our main elements tied to the club.”