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Messi has scored 41 goals for Barcelona this season. AP/Press Association Images
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Kerching! Messi signs new contract for Barcelona for reportedly €20m per season

Barcelona face Atletico Madrid in tomorrow’s La Liga showdown.

FOUR-TIME WORLD Player of the Year Lionel Messi has agreed terms on a new contract with Spanish giants Barcelona.

The club confirmed the news in a statement on their website.

“FC Barcelona has reached an agreement to adjust the terms in the contract binding Leo Messi to the club as a professional first team player. The revised and updated contract will be signed over the next few days.”

The deal is expected to see Messi overtake Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo as the biggest earner in world football and according to a report on the website of Barcelona-based newspaper Sport, it is worth €20m per season (£16.3m), plus further incentives.

“There is the will within the club that he becomes the best paid player in the world,” Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu said in an exclusive interview with AFP back in March.

“He is the number one and, as we have said various times, he also deserves to be the best paid player in the world.”

Messi has become a legend at Barcelona since making his debut in 2004 scoring 354 goals in 424 games making him the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.

Should Barca beat Atletico Madrid tomorrow the Argentine will win his seventh La Liga title and his 22nd trophy overall with the Catalans, including three Champions League titles.

However, despite scoring over 40 goals for a fifth consecutive campaign, Messi has had his most difficult year both on and off the field in his career.

The 26-year-old appeared in court in September over tax fraud allegations relating to his image rights, whilst the arrival of Brazilian star Neymar at Barcelona this season has challenged his position as top dog at the club.

Messi was also struck down by persistent hamstring injuries during the first-half of the season and returned to Argentina for a month in December to rest and recuperate away from the spotlight in the Catalan capital.

- © AFP, 2014

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