Leo Messi reportedly makes final decision on Barcelona's new contract offer

What’s the story?

Lionel Messi has reportedly decided not to renew his contract at Barcelona according to Radio Estadio. The Argentine is set to walk away as a free agent next summer.

La intención de Messi es NO FIRMAR SU RENOVACIÓN hasta final de año. En 2018 queda libre. Lo cuenta @Alfremartinezz pic.twitter.com/FhNntSS6mW

— Radioestadio (@Radioestadio) September 2, 2017

The 30-year-old has informed the club that he has 'no intentions' to sign the offered contract. This news comes as a shocker for the Barcelona board who are already getting a lot of heat from the fans for the transfer activities in the summer.

In case you didn’t know...

Leo Messi's current contract expires at the end of this season. The Barcelona legend has not yet signed a new contract and now reports are emerging that he is set to leave them.

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are keen on signing him while a move back to Argentina is also on the cards. Pep Guardiola is reportedly in touch with him constantly.

The heart of the matter

Barcelona were confident that Messi would be signing a new deal at the club but things have changed drastically following the abysmal transfer activities of the club in the summer.

Barcelona's director of Professional Sports, Albert Soler, assured the fans last week that the 30-year-old will sign a new contract soon. He revealed that all things were agreed and just the signature was left.

Club president, Joseph Bartomeu also 'confirmed' in July that Messi had agreed to sign a new 4-year contract and it was just the signature that was pending. The president had also assured that Neymar was going nowhere and that has actually got the Barcelona fans worried.

However, reports now emerge that Messi is not happy with the direction the club is heading in and is not interested in staying at Camp Nou.

What’s next?

There are only two possible conclusions to this situation:

1) Messi signs a new contract and continues playing for Barcelona.

2) Messi walks away as a free agent and shocks the world!

The next few months are going to be very tough for the Barcelona players. They need to get back together and focus on football and make sure all the off-field activities of the club do not disrupt their game on the pitch.

Author’s take

Is Messi just doing this to get the board away from the club or is he actually thinking of leaving and taking up a new challenge? It's going to be very interesting to see what Messi does.