No more Messing: Barcelona star Lionel Messi ‘ACCEPTS two-year deal’ to remain at Camp Nou giants – reports

Barcelona ace Lionel Messi has accepted the debt-ridden club's offer of a new contract, according to reports from Spain, with the Argentine free to leave on June 30 to a continental rival such as Manchester City or PSG.

The claim was made early Tuesday afternoon in Catalonia.

On Twitter, respected local journalist Miguel Rico announced the news by saying: "Leo Messi, who has made [negotiations] easy, accepts Barca's offer and payment formula.

"Nothing remains, [just] structural details, for his renewal for two years."

If true, this will come as music to the ears of Barca fans worldwide, who had to face their icon turning his back on his club of 20 years as a very real possibility.

On Friday, in his first press conference since taking over as president in March, Joan Laporta had was probed repeatedly on the subject and confirmed how "the new contract talks with Messi are going well, but we have to keep working."

"We are preparing a proposal that with the [financial] limitations of the club can convince Messi [to stay]. He loves the club and we are all preparing whatever it takes for him to stay at Barca."

"We can make an offer [to him] within our [financial] possibilities. Leo deserves much more, and could earn more elsewhere. [But] I'm convinced he values the effort we're making, and would like to stay.

"Leo is not about the money, but a team which can win everything. I am moderately optimistic," Laporta claimed.

Proving this through his actions then, the payment formula Rico referred to is believed to see Messi paid beyond retirement, or even when leaving the Camp Nou to finish his career in the US where he would be a Blaugrana ambassador before returning to the Catalan capital to take up a director's role.

Unveiled yesterday, the arrival of close friend Sergio Aguero on a free transfer from City has also been influential for Messi, and the striker teased that his compatriot Argentine's mind had been made up.

"It's a pleasure to play with him. If he stays here, which I think he will, we will give our best for the club to achieve big things. For me, Barcelona, also because he's here, is the best club in the world," the five-time Premier League winner stated.

"We've been together with the national team." 

"I speak with Leo every day and to train together every day, because it's not so often with Argentina, will be really great," he went on.

With Aguero's former Etihad teammate Eric Garcia also signed on a free today, and Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum expected this week, Laporta is doing the best he can to construct the competitive outfit Messi demands, even if the cash-strapped La Liga giants are in a financial black hole said to exceed $1 billion.

Last summer, he tried to force his way out of the club on the watch of Laporta's predecessor Josep Bartomeu, but decided to hold back and not put his boyhood outfit through the courts.

Bartomeu resigning in scandal in October, Laporta was voted in by many club members in March's presidential election with promises to tie Messi down and a return to the sextuple glory days the Ballon d'Or holder enjoyed with now-City boss Pep Guardiola.