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Barcelona’s presidential candidate, Victor Font, insists Lionel Messi can be persuaded to stay at the club if he is presented with a ‘competitive project’.
Messi, who has been at Barça for his entire professional career, appears to be leaving at the end of the season, once his contract expires.
The Argentine tried to leave in the summer, but finally chose to stay one more year; However, with Manchester City firmly interested, Font believes the 33-year-old can be persuaded to stay for the rest of his career.
On the subject of Messi’s departure in 2021, Font told the BBC: ‘Obviously, we know it’s a possibility because he said he wanted to leave last summer, but we’re hopeful.
‘The elections are coming in 60 days and we will have a new board and a new president and a new project.
“What Messi needs to stay at the club is a competitive project. He wants to win, obviously the lack of a project in recent times has affected the way we compete and therefore I hope that when the new president takes office, hopefully it will be us, we can convince him to stay. ‘
Font also referred to recent comments from City manager Pep Guardiola about Messi and his belief that the star forward will remain in Catalonia for the rest of his career, while acknowledging that a relationship between club and player must be further formed beyond his days as a gamer.
‘Every time [City coach] Pep Guardiola talks about this, he says it very clearly that he believes Messi should stay at Barça and that he is a Barça car, ‘added Font. “He wants him to finish his career at FC Barcelona.”
“We need to make sure he understands that there is a project, a winner, a competitive project. For us, the partnership between Barça and Messi is a very strategic partnership. He has been with the club since he was 13 years old and we believe that this association needs to go beyond the days that he is in the field (after retirement).
“We believe that this partnership has a lot of potential for the next few years and we are hopeful that if we present it to him and his team, he will see this as a good opportunity.”
Sportsmail revealed yesterday that City devised a 10-year strategy to maximize the benefit of getting Messi from Barcelona.
Messi failed in his attempts to secure a transfer to the Etihad Stadium over the summer after failing to argue that a termination clause in his Camp Nou contract had not expired.
City remain interested in signing the Argentine superstar next year and Sportsmail learned of plans to discuss a decade-long partnership with City Football Group (CFG), beginning with a multi-year contract to play with Pep Guardiola, who pledged his next two seasons to City last week.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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