Barcelona Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez

Manchester City are reportedly willing to fork out an astronomical £200 million to land the services of Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi next summer. Meanwhile, Luis Suarez has been offered a new contract by his Catalan employers.

According to the Mirror's Simon Mullock, the Citizens are prepared to stump up an eye-watering, world-record transfer sum "in excess of £100 million," while it's said they would also offer the forward wages of £500,000 a week.

The 29-year-old faces the prospect of linking up with former Blaugrana boss Pep Guardiola in the event he does move to the Etihad Stadium, although a departure from the Camp Nou has always seemed all but impossible.

Barcelona value their star striker too much to allow his 15-year stay at the club to come to such an abrupt end, and manager Luis Enrique recently spoke of his hopes that Messi would one day retire in his current setting:

Amid all the hearsay and uncertainty surrounding a deal such as this, one thing that could be deemed true is the fact that City are one of the few clubs that may have the financial backing to actually tease a Messi transfer, at the very least.

Metro.co.uk's Simon Rice equated City's potential salary as equivalent to Messi earning £3,000 an hour in Manchester.

However, football writer Liam Canning recently hinted that the Argentinian hasn't enjoyed his finest hours in 2016:

Barca will of course be desperate to retain Messi's services for as long as possible, and the same seems true of fellow South American Suarez, who has now been officially offered a new four-year contract at the Camp Nou.

That's according to Spanish daily Mundo Deportivo (h/t Lorenzo Bettoni of CalcioMercato.com), which reported that the Uruguayan is in line for a new deal, and La Liga provided evidence as to why his club are so adamant to extend his stay:

Suarez has been a scoring revelation since coming to Barcelona from Liverpool in 2014, scoring 95 goals in just 112 appearances, per Transfermarkt, slipping seamlessly into the side to form a devastating trio alongside Messi and Neymar.

He told Mundo Deportivo (h/t ESPN FC's Samuel Marsden) in November that agent Pere Guardiola—brother of City chief Pep—was progressing through talks as hoped: "Everything is on the right path. We're finalising the talks. I'm at the club I always wanted to be at."

Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images

The 29-year-old's current contract is scheduled to run until 2019, but it's alleged Barca want to extend Suarez's contract until 2021, a sign of just how influential he's been in first-team success since his arrival.

Should he pen an agreement until 2021, Suarez would be 34 years of age by the time his deal at Barca is ready to expire, and it seems both parties are content in continuing what's already been a very fruitful relationship.