Barca president keen to start work on Messi contract extension

Madrid, Sep 22 (IANS) FC Barcelona president Sandro Rosell said it would be an error not to start work on renewing the contract of star striker Lionel Messi.

Messi has already renewed his contract six times in his Barcelona career and his current deal expires in June 2016. But with the best player in the world at the club, Rosell knows that there are no shortage of teams willing to offer massive wages in an attempt to get the Argentinean, reports Xinhua.

"Messi ends his relationship with Barcelona in 2016, which is the same year our mandate ends. As president, I have to think about what could happen, at the moment, there is no meeting planned with his father (who is also his agent), but this is a machine that doesn't stop and the situation could change at any moment," said Rosell on Catalan radio.

"The coaches are at the club to think about what is going to happen Sunday, while the directors have the duty to look further ahead to try and secure the future. The contract would come into effect from 2016, so we have to start working on it now," he said.

Rosell added there would be no problem in extending the contract of the 34-year-old club captain, Carles Puyol, who is out of contract at the end of the current season.

"Puyol is an icon, a legend and the captain. We want him to be a Barca player till the day he says that he is going to stop playing," said the club president.