Lionel Messi agrees to a five-year deal and takes a 50% wage cut.

The Barcelona superstar has agreed to continue his professional career with the Catalan giants for another five years and his salary will be reduced by 50% in the new deal.

He spent his entire career at Barcelona making his debut in 2004 and was a free agent for a few weeks now.

The Argentine agreed to slash his yearly earnings by 50% in order to agree to a fresh long-term deal with Blaugrana.

Last year, Messi requested to leave the club by activating a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave for free.

But then-president Joseph Maria Bartomeu blocked the move and asked other clubs pay his €700m release clause in full.

“I thought and we were sure that I’d be a free agent,” Messi told Goal.

“The president always told me that I could decide to stay or go at the end of the season and they’re now clinging to the fact that I hadn’t said anything by June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 the La Liga season was still ongoing and we were in the midst of this virus and this illness that altered the whole fixture calendar.

“And that’s the reason why I’m staying on at the club. I’m now staying because the president told me that the only way I could leave was by paying the €700m release clause, which is impossible.”

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