Perfect Christmas present for Barcelona fans as the club has announced that it has reached agreements with Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernández and Lionel Messi for the renewal of their respective contracts.
Messi’s current deal with Barcelona ran until June 30, 2016, and the new deal extends that until 2018, when Messi will be 31. By then Messi will have smashed every Barcelona scoring record and possibly every scoring record there is.
No word on the size of the pay raise that the soon to be four time FIFA Ballon d’Or winner got, but I am sure that his new deal will be examined closely by Cristiano Ronaldo, who is looking for a new deal at Real Madrid (or elsewhere)
Puyol’s contract was set to run out at the end of the season and his deal has surprisingly been extended until the 2016. I say surprisingly, that with all the injuries that Puyol has had in recent seasons, that Barca gave him a three-year deal instead of a shorter one or two year deal.
Xavi’s contract was up on 18 months and Barcelona have extended that now to 2016 also.
The deals, pretty much guarantee that the three Barcelona players will end their careers at the club, which is something that Xavi is particular wanted, saying recently:
“My dream of seeing out my career at Barça will come true. I’m very happy to be able to finish here. If I can still be here at the age of 36 it will be a privilege. This is my lifelong club. For the moment I just want to enjoy myself until 2016.
In announcing the new deals, Barcelona spokesman Toni Freixa said that the club was looking for the “continuation of a successful sporting project”. Messi, Xavi and Puyol are, in his words, “three essential members of the best Barça ever”.
Freixa added that the buyout clauses in each of the contracts will remain unchanged, while in some cases the contracts have not only been extended but also improved. He also pointed out that although a joint announcement was made today regarding all three players,
“I am sure that the signatures will be done individually, probably after the holiday season”.
