Tuesday 14 November 2017 20:30, UK
Lionel Messi has signed a new contract at Barcelona, according to La Liga's president Javier Tebas.
Barcelona CEO Oscar Grau said the La Liga club would offer him a new lifetime deal but questions still linger over whether Messi has signed any necessary paperwork.
Tebas says Barcelona have informed him a contract has been signed unless he has been "lied to".
"Messi has a contract which has been renewed," Tebas told reporters at a Europa Press media event.
"Contracts are official when they are signed and not when it is announced that they have been signed.
"Messi has signed with Barcelona, if I have not been lied to, he has signed."
Back in September, Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said Messi is already playing under a five-year contract signed on behalf of the player by his dad. However, the lack of official confirmation from the La Liga club has caused concern among fans.
In Guillem Balague's Q&A with Sky Sports on October 20, he said: "Messi is getting paid according to the new contract. All that is missing is the picture with the president."
The 30-year-old spoke last week of his desire to return to his boyhood club Newell's Old Boys at some point in his career.
"The desire is always playing for Newell's, it is what I dreamed as a kid," Messi told Argentine channel TyC Sports.
"When I went to the club I imagined playing in the Primera Division, but I do not know what's going to happen in a few years.
"I cannot say I'm going back because I do not know where I'm going to be."