Barcelona Transfer News: Lionel Messi's Father Plans Contract Talks, Top Rumours

Lionel Messi's contract negotiations with Barcelona are finally about to "move up a notch" after his father and agent, Jorge Messi, landed in the Catalan city earlier than had been expected, according to Albert Masnou for Sport.

During his visit, Messi's father is planning to sit down with Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu for the first time regarding the deal, in the hope of making some serious progress on the protracted contract discussions.

An offer has already been made by the club and "closing the deal" is Jorge's primary aim of the visit, per Masnou. 

This is welcome news to Barca fans, who may have begun to worry when reports in December suggested talks had not yet started, although the interests of player and club were never seriously in doubt.

On Jan. 19, Jorge confirmed that "there is no danger Messi will leave Barcelona" and that preliminary talks had already begun, per Cadena SER (h/t Dave Fraser for The Sun).

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Nevertheless, things will remain nervy until Messi puts pen to paper, not least because of the 70 per cent expenditure cap imposed on La Liga clubs.

Fresh doubt over the 29-year-old's future emerged after Barcelona chief executive Oscar Grau admitted at the Forum Europa on Jan. 11 that "we have to use common sense" in light of the Argentinian's demands for a pay increase, per Richard Martin for Reuters.

Fortunately, this no longer seems to be a thorny part of the negotiations, and however complicated, the contract debacle does not appear to have affected Messi on the pitch. He has netted 12 goals in his last 14 games in all competitions, bringing his overall tally to 33 goals in 34 games in 2016-17, per WhoScored.com.

His genius was captured neatly in a series of photographs from Tuesday's Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid, reproduced by the popular Leo Messi Twitter fan page:

"

You know it's Messi when this happens.. pic.twitter.com/nS4Gy9nq1w

— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) February 9, 2017"

Barcelona, though, are not performing to expectations. They are one point behind league leaders Real Madrid, who have two games in hand on their rivals.

Completing negotiations would be a welcome piece of good news for Barca, and there doesn't appear to be any further stumbling blocks for either player or club. Barcelona are keen to conclude the deal and Messi has no intention of moving away from the city he has lived in since he was 13 years old, per Masnou.

The offer has been ready for Jorge to look at for two weeks, and his arrival in Barcelona should bring things to a relatively swift conclusion. 

Messi is set to complete a hat-trick of major new deals for the club this season, after both Neymar and Luiz Suarez extended their contracts.

Rui Vieira/Associated Press

Manchester City are the only losers from this saga. They were hoping to lure the Argentinian to the Etihad Stadium in a £100 million deal this summer, according to Phil Cadden for The Sun, but the dream of seeing the five-time Ballon d'Or winner in England appears to have gone. Messi looks set to spend the rest of his career in Barcelona colours.

An end to the discussions can only be good news for a club still competing for silverware on all fronts, and Messi will play a huge role in any success Barcelona and Luis Enrique achieve in 2017.