Barcelona star Lionel Messi pens emotional social media post after breaking Pele's record

Barcelona star Lionel Messi has taken to social media to express his gratitude to his family, teammates and friends after breaking Brazilian legend Pele's long-standing record.

Messi scored a goal against Real Valladolid yesterday to take his Barcelona goals tally to 644, in the process breaking Pele's all-time record of goals for a single club. Pele scored 643 goals for Santos.

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi acknowledges Pele in social media post

Messi could leave Barcelona soon

Lionel Messi is regarded by many as the greatest player to have played the game, and Barcelona's greatest-ever player. The 33-year-old made his debut for the club in 2004 and has gone on to make 749 appearances in all competitions, scoring 644 goals.

However, Messi and Barcelona were in the news for much of the summer this year after the Argentine superstar announced his decision to leave the club in the summer transfer window.

Despite heavy links with Manchester City, a move failed to materialise, with Messi continuing to captain Barcelona. The attacker's contract expires next summer and there have been no signs from Messi's camp about him wanting to sign a new deal.

Manchester City are still seen as favourites to sign Messi but Paris Saint-Germain are also keeping an eye on the situation.

It remains to be seen whether Barcelona can afford a new deal for Lionel Messi, even if the Argentina international shows an interest in signing an extension.

The Camp Nou outfit are undergoing financial difficulties at the moment, and were subdued in the transfer window gone by. They have been linked with the likes of Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia and Georginio Wijnaldum, players whose contracts expire next summer.

Find someone who looks at you like Messi looks at a football 😍 pic.twitter.com/tmcLkcZG9x

— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 22, 2020

Barcelona were more focused on selling players in the summer. Long-serving players Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic left for Atletico Madrid and Sevilla respectively. Suarez's departure was another point of irritation for Messi, who took to social media to express his disappointment with the move.

Arthur, Nelson Semedo and Arturo Vidal all left the club in the summer as well. It remains to be seen whether Barcelona pursue Depay and Garcia in January or wait for their contracts to expire in the summer before making a move.

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