Bartomeu explains why Messi still has not signed his new Barcelona contract

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has given an update on Lionel Messi’s contract situation and attempted to play down fears over the Argentine’s future.

There is genuine concern over Messi’s contract with his renewal still not official despite the club announcing way back in July that it had all been agreed and was just lacking a signature.

Messi was supposed to put pen to paper when he returned to pre-season training, but it’s now September and his signature is still conspicuously absent.

In an interview with Sport, Bartomeu blames “schedule problems” amongst other things but is optimistic it will happen.

“It's all agreed and signed. There are three contracts. One with the Messi Foundation, which is signed with the president of the Foundations and the player's brother.

“There's an image rights contract with Messi, which is father has signed, who is the administrator of his company, and the employment contract, with his father has signed, who has the power to do so.

“That Leo arrives and we have the official photograph and the protocol of the signature. The contract's signed, it's valid from the month of June, from June 30, the same day that he got married, curiously.

“It's been audited because it goes into the accounts for last season. The renewal is included in the accounts for the closing of this season. There are no problems. It's just the protocol of the signature. We're relaxed.”

Source | Sport

So getting back to the point, why exactly has the deal not been done? The president was pressed on the matter further and this is what he came up with.

"We've had schedule problems. Now, he's back on Sept. 6 or Sept, 7 we play on Sept. 9. There are a lot of games. We will find the moment,” he added.

"Two months have gone by. He got married on June 30, then when he came back he went to Japan, then there was the tour. Then he came back. ahhh... what happened? There was the Super Cup, then La Liga started, the trip to Monaco. We will find the moment."

Source | Sport

So there we have it, apparently we’re just waiting for the right moment.