Argentina star Lionel Messi set to extend his stay at Barcelona: Reports

Barcelona star Lionel Messi is set to extend his stay at the Catalan club by signing a five-year deal. As per a report in  La Vanguardia newspaper and ESPN, the football star is set to take a significant wage cut to stay with the club. 

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Lionel Messi, who is the club's top scorer, is currently a free agent as his contract expired last month. He has been with the club for the past 21 years. 

Joan Laporta, who took over as Barcelona president, is already trying to reduce their wage bill in order to keep Messi and stay within La Liga's strict financial control rules. 

Earlier, La Liga chief Javier Tebas said last week that Barcelona, which has a total debt of more than 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion), would not be shown any leniency.

Messi's last contract, signed in 2017, was the most lucrative in world sport according to a January report in newspaper El Mundo.

The club have been trying to rebuild the squad with Junior Firpo, Jean-Clair Todibo and Carles Alena being sold to make way for free signings Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia.

Lionel Messi and Co. paid the perfect tribute to late football legend Diego Maradona as Argentina lift their first Copa America title since 1993 as they beat hosts Brazil by 1-0 to lift the coveted trophy. The win also marks the end of Lionel Messi's trophy drought with Argentina. This is his first cup with Argentina since winning the gold medal during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

Lionel Messi was named the Golden Boot victor after smashing four goals he scored and the assists to his name. Gianluca Lapadula and Lautaro Martinez scored three goals each. 

Messi additionally gave the most assists in the tournament. He even broke the record for the most assists in a solitary edition of the Copa America. 

While this was Lionel Messi's first-ever international trophy with Argentina, Neymar Jr. is yet to win one with Brazil. Since he wasn't a part of the Brazil squad that won the previous edition of the Copa America in 2019.