Samuel Eto’o says he cannot imagine Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona and remains hopeful his former teammate will sign a new deal at the Nou Camp.
Messi’s contract expires on July 1 and as yet there is no agreement in place and discussions are still on going; there are several parts of the new contract yet to be agreed so the process is not yet close to being concluded.
Jorge Messi, his dad and agent left Barcelona yesterday with no final agreement and communications will follow from distance. Eto’o, however who played for Barca between 2004-09 cannot envisage Messi wearing another club’s colours.
‘I can’t imagine Leo with another shirt. It is his club, his home, his love,’ Eto’o said as quoted by Marca.com
‘I do not think that his continuity is due to a question of money. Leo is Barcelona and Barcelona is Messi. I know [president Joan] Laporta is preparing a reliable, interesting project for him.’
On the arrival of recent acquisition of Sergio Aguero Eto’o added: ‘Between the two of them they can add 60 goals per season, I only ask that God protects them from injury.’
And on playing alongside Messi the former Cameroon international said: ‘He had everything. I felt he should score more goals, he was a very quiet boy, but it makes me happy that in one season he scored 40-45 goals.
‘Playing with Messi makes games easier for you, I thank him very much.
‘He may have said in the media that I helped him in the beginning, but what he gave us was more than what we could give him. I couldn’t teach him how to play, because he is a God.’
Barca boss Ronald Koeman said ‘Messi has to finish his career at Barcelona’ in a recent interview with Sport and that he expected a contract extension for the six-time Ballon d’Or winner to be announced ‘soon’.
Club president Joan Laporta reiterated before his successful re-election his belief that Messi would stay at the Nou Camp, however he did concede that due to the fact he’s currently playing for Argentina at the Copa America the paperwork isn’t due to be completed just yet.
Both sides are progressing and Barca are trying to accelerate the process before his contract expires, but reports that he is set to sign imminently are wide of the mark; there is still a gap in some details of the contract which have not yet been resolved. And they will need to be fixed before the new deal is presented to Messi.
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