FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta confirmed on Monday that the club will pay the former FCB player Lionel Messi till 2025.
Messi, 36, who left the club in 2021, is still owed outstanding payments by the Catalan club.
“What is owed to him is the deferral of wages that was agreed with the previous board and that produces outstanding payments that end in 2025," Laporta told La Vanguardia.
The president also talked about Messi’s decision to join the Major League Soccer (MLS) club Inter Miami over Barcelona saying that the Argentine footballer wanted “less pressure” after two difficult years in Paris.
“We had an agreement with LaLiga that we would dedicate part of the resources we have to Messi," Laporta said.
"It was included in the viability plan. We communicated it to Jorge Messi, who told me that Messi had had a very difficult year in Paris and that he wanted less pressure.
"With our option, he would have continued to be under pressure and I understood his decision [to go to Inter Miami].”
It must be noted that after leaving the French club Paris Saint Germain in June, the seven-time Ballon d’Or was constantly linked with the Catalan club but the move never became a reality as Messi said he didn’t want to go through again what he did in 2021.
"I really wanted to return, I was very excited to be able to return, but, on the other hand, after having experienced what I experienced when I left, I didn't want to be in the same situation again. I didn't want to leave my future in someone else's hands,” Messi told Spanish media on June 7.
"Although I heard that it was said that La Liga had accepted everything and that everything was fine for me to return, there were still many other things that had to happen.
"I wanted to make my own decision and that's why I didn't return to Barca. Although I would have loved it, it couldn't be,” he added.