Ronald Koeman 'Not Confident' Lionel Messi Will Sign New Barcelona Contract

While Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman hopes Lionel Messi will sign a new contract with the club, he remains unsure how likely that is to happen. 

In an interview with former England striker Alan Shearer on The Athletic, Koeman said:

"I'm not confident about that. I'm hopeful, yes, about this because he's still a great player, and he's still winning matches for us, for the team. I'm enjoying being his coach; if you look at his qualities every day in the training sessions, it's incredible. Of course, he came as a young kid to Barcelona. And I still don't see Leo Messi in another shirt other than the Barca shirt."

Messi, whose Barca contract expires following the 2020-21 season, made it known to the club in the summer of 2020 that he wanted to play elsewhere. Despite that, Messi remained with Barcelona for the current campaign.

Messi is already permitted to be in contact with foreign clubs, and both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have expressed interest in landing arguably the greatest soccer player of all time, according to Shearer.

While a split between Messi and Barca may be forthcoming, Koeman insisted there are no issues between him and his star player: "I don't have any problems with Leo. He is the captain of the team. I speak to Leo about tactical things, and we have a really good professional relationship that I have with all the players. But he is... OK, he's the captain, so you always have more communication with him."

Messi, 33, is in his 17th season with Barca. He signed with the club in 2000 at the age of 13, and he made his first-team debut in 2004.

Since then, Messi has become a legendary figure, scoring 456 goals in 503 La Liga matches and 650 goals across all competitions for Barca.

He has also helped lead Blaugrana to a host of major accomplishments, including 10 La Liga titles, six Copa del Reys and four UEFA Champions League trophies.

Currently, Barca are second in La Liga, level on points with rival Real Madrid in third place, and 10 points behind leaders Atletico Madrid.

If this is Messi's swansong at Barca, he has an outside chance to lead them to an 11th La Liga title during his tenure, although he has his work cut out for him as Atleti also have a game in hand on theirr rivals.

Messi is enjoying another strong year with 12 goals in La Liga and 16 across all competitions, meaning whichever club ends up with him next season will still have an elite player on their hands even at the age of 33.