Barcelona may be readying a new five-year contract worth a reported £580,000-a-week for Lionel Messi, but Newell's Old Boys vice-president Cristian D'Amico is confident they can lure their former prodigy back to his boyhood club.
Messi's current deal at the Camp Nou expires in 2018, just before the World Cup in Russia and that is when D'Amico believes Newell's will be reunited with Argentina's all time leading goal scorer.
"I am convinced, like many of my peers, that we can make history as a club if we get the best player in the world in a Newell's shirt. I think we're going to get the pleasure of Messi wearing the shirt."
"Imagine a game with Messi in the Coloso [Estadio Marcelo Bielsa], with the press around the world. The sponsors who would come... that would make a difference economically, apart from the sentimental value, and could make a big difference to clean up the debts."
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Messi has said in past interviews that the only club he would ever leave Barcelona for is Newell's, so D'Amico's confidence may not be too misplaced.
(H/T Goal)
Topics: Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Argentina