Lionel Messi: 5 reasons why staying at Barcelona is the right decision
And so there we have it! Lionel Messi has finally cleared all the smog surrounding his contract at Barcelona as the Argentine has put pen to paper to extend his contract to 2021 – meaning that he will be 34 by the time this deal expires.
At that point in time, it could be safe to claim that Messi won’t be the player that he is now. As a result, this deal all but confirms that La Pulga will be spending his best years at Camp Nou, serving the club that gave him the chance to be the player that he is today.
And with countless trophies at both club and individual level, he has more than repaid the faith shown in him. As he stays in Spain for the next 4 years, here are 5 reasons why his decision to sign was absolutely correct…
#5 Barcelona in transition phase
The last time Barcelona were at such a phase of transition was back in 2008, Lionel Messi was only at the initial stages of his career but had to be moved to the centre of things by Pep Guardiola. The Catalan manager axed Ronaldinho and placed the mantle on Messi to take the club to new heights.
However, back then, he wasn’t among the senior players in the team and got a lot of help from Samuel Eto’o. One could almost say that that transition was overseen more by the likes of Eto’o and Xavi than young Messi.
This time around, though, it is Messi who is the one engineering this transition in collaboration with manager Ernesto Valverde. Indeed, this is unlike any challenge he has faced in his Barcelona career, hence leaving would have deprived him of something challenging – something that could imprint another uniqueness to his name.