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La Liga Leaks: Confusion over Messi's Barcelona deal and Van Gaal’s surprising Valencia link

It’s been a relatively quiet transfer window so far but, in classic comedy fashion, this morning sees two Spanish newspapers running with completely opposite headlines.

MARCA’ go with ‘No offer or plan to convince him [to sign a new deal’ whereas ‘SPORT’ say ‘Offer Imminent’. Of course, both headlines are related to the future of Lionel Messi whose current deal expires at the end of next season.

MARCA’s take is that as of today, for all the talk of wanting to renew Messi’s contract, zero conversations have taken place about actually doing that.

Messi and Van Gaal
Messi and Van Gaal

It was reportedly leaked from sources in Barcelona that Messi’s future had moved to the front of the queue when it came to sorting out new deals for the current squad, although quite why that wasn’t the case in the first place is worrying.

Another key part in all of this is the uncertain role Luis Enrique will play beyond this summer. Messi loves the club and has no desire to leave but he needs to know the direction in which its heading and so far no plans have been put forward to Leo, with or without Enrique at the helm.

SPORT say negotiations are imminent between the club and their star man and the first formal offer will be presented to Messi before the end of this month. Informal talks over the telephone between the club and the player’s father, also his agent, have occurred to ensure the other they want to reach a resolution as soon as possible.

marca sport
marca sport

They too state the vision of the club going forward is important for Leo as he wants to continue winning trophies, plus a pay rise wouldn’t be a bad thing either. SPORT say both parties are convinced a deal will happen sooner rather than later and, despite not having any formal talks, have even spoken about finding an appropriate date to announce the news of Messi extending his stay at the club. That part at least seems a bit of a stretch.

Sticking with Barcelona, as there’s a lot of stuff about them in the major papers today, Luis Enrique’s future appears to be away from the Camp Nou according to ‘Radio MARCA‘. His refusal to back up Gerard Pique’s strong criticism of referees apparently upset some people in the dressing room. Others, who are in contract negotiations or find themselves near the exit door, have put their plans on hold to see whether Enrique leaves at the end of the season.

Steven N'Zonzi
Steven N'Zonzi

Last story on Barcelona, I promise, comes from ‘Mundo Deportivo’ and they report Barcelona have significantly cooled their interest in Steven N’Zonzi.

The reasons for this are apparently due to his age, he’ll be approaching 29 should be join next summer, and the desire to sign a right back instead and move Sergi Roberto to his natural position as a defensive midfielder.

Louis Van Gaal
Louis Van Gaal

Louis Van Gaal was on Spanish radio station Cadena SER last night talking about his future in football – and an offer from Valencia last month! He said: “I’m not retiring, I’m just taking a year off and will decide after that [what I do], depending on the offers.”

While this should put an end to the tributes sent his way, he dropped the bombshell that Valencia called him last month to take over the club. However, he didn’t quite rule out the possibility of managing in Spain, and more specifically Valencia, further down the line.

“I could return to Spain. I received an offer from Valencia but at that moment I said no. Next year could be different, depending how I feel. It could be a nice project.”

Other news and rumours:

  • Fabian Orellana has been told he has no future at Celta Vigo while Eduardo Berizzo is managing the club. The two had a bust up and Celta are happy to accept any reasonable offers for the winger. [Various]

  • Jese is adamant he only wants to join Las Palmas but the final decision rests with PSG, not the player. Middlesborough and Liverpool remain interested in the Spaniard and both could make the deal more enticing to the French giants, on an economic level at least, than the Canaries. [MARCA]

  • Gael Kakuta, once the most sought after youngster in football, has joined Deportivo on loan until the end of the season from Chinese side Hebei. [Official]