Messi was never going to leave Barcelona - he was just waiting for the right moment to sign his new deal

While it may well be true that – as Rod Stewart tells us – ‘Every Picture Tells A Story’ the fact is that in the emotionally-charged, highly-politicised and deeply-scrutinised ‘goldfish bowl’ world of top level football, it is very rarely the whole picture, the whole story.

But needs must when the Devil drives and finally ‘the picture’ is out there. Leo Messi and Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu have made it official, their troth well and truly plighted maybe not until ‘death do us part’, but certainly up to the end of the 2021 season by which team the magician from Rosario in Argentina will be 34 years old.

Sometimes – in fact for most of the time – it has been very much a love match with lots of kisses and cuddles and also rows, spats, lovers’ tiffs and everything else that accompanies such arrangements, but also on occasions very much a marriage of convenience.

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The renewal of vows occurred as far back as last June when, with one exception (more on that later), the minutiae of the deal were worked out by the board and Jorge Messi, Leo’s father, who signed in his behalf with the legal mandate he has to do so.

It was announced by Barcelona back in July that the agreement was in place and the only thing that was missing was in fact ‘the picture’ and the small detail of Messi’s signature.

And indeed everything was in place and in reality, Messi never, ever really considered the prospect of leaving Barcelona. He has established an entourage with a tiny but compact army of people working for him and has built for himself and his family an enviable lifestyle around Barcelona that he adores.

But my guess is that he has been waiting for the right moment to commit his future unconditionally to the club and that moment has now arrived.

Firstly, his father is now in Barcelona for few days, and that is not always the case these days as he spends most of his time in Rosario. Secondly, the renewal of Iniesta was important to him particularly, coming as it did, on the back of Neymar’s departure to Paris Saint Germain. He needed to fully understand what the club’s intentions were and if their ambitions matched his.

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He is also very happy with Ernesto Valverde’s new regime and after what looked like a sticky start in the Spanish Super Cup, the stats now are absolutely amazing. Even at this early stage it is going to take something really extraordinary to prevent them from regaining the LaLiga title they lost to Real Madrid last season and there isn’t a side left in the Champions League that will relish the prospect of facing them in the last 16 of competition.

The wages are the same as those agreed back in July and the renewal bonus had also been previously negotiated.

But Barcelona were absolutely desperate for ‘that picture’ to be taken as soon as possible simply because despite the fact that nobody expected him to leave, despite the fact there was an agreement already in place and he was already being paid according to that agreement, Barcelona knew that if that contract had been taken to law he could have been free to leave on January 1.

Barcelona had everyone’s word that he was going to say, but to paraphrase the legendary Samuel Goldwyn, Barcelona knew better than anyone that ‘a verbal contract isn’t worth the paper, it ISN’T written on.”

Message

After winning the Golden Boot, Messi sent a message on Instagram saying: “I have always said that I don’t consider myself to be a striker, but I have been lucky enough to always score goals and win individual prizes .

“As I have progressed off the field, I think I have also done so on the pitch. I have improved and added things to my game and I enjoy myself more and more every day as a player.”

He went on to thank the staff, his fellow professionals and reading between the lines it was clearly his way of saying that this was his home and where he wanted to be.

Bearing in mind the colossal sums of money earned by the player it seems almost churlish to say that this whole issue was never about money but that is in fact the case. He has recently been offered two new massive commercial contracts both of which he has said no to simply because he feared they might jeopardise his chances of doing what he does to the very best of his abilities and better than anyone in the world, which is playing, scoring and above all, winning things with Barcelona.

So smile everyone, watch the birdie. It’s official, Messi will be a ‘blaugrana’ until 2021.

Just one more thing however. Back to the ‘minor detail’ that has changed in his contract since it was first agreed back in June.

Back then his buyout clause stood at €300m. Now the problem with that, of course, is that such clauses are invariably, not so much a price tag as a ‘keep your hands off’ notice. A figure established following a scenario that decrees that one should think of a realistic figure, add a couple of noughts and then double it.

Unfortunately in the present climate, there are some clubs out there – well, probably two, maximum three – that bearing in mind the sort of money paid for players like Neymar and Dembele, and also the sort of sums being offered for someone like Coutinho that might think €300m for the greatest player ever to lace on a pair of boots constituted something of a bargain.

The result is that his new buyout clause now stands at €700m. Now that should put everyone else off. Shouldn’t it?