Adult Website Offers Barcelona $10 Million Fee To Help Fund Lionel Messi Contract

An adult website has offered Barcelona a $10 million fee in an attempt to help fund his contract.

The 34-year-old forward is currently a free agent after his three-year contract with the La Liga side - worth a staggering £476m over four years - expired on Tuesday at midnight.

Despite some lengthy talks surrounding a new deal, the expectation is that he will stay at Barcelona next season and according to Spanish publication AS, he is set to extend his contract for two more years.

Last week, La Liga president Javier Tebas announced that Barca have exceeded their wage cap and will therefore fall under a "special procedure" next season.

It means the club will have to make significant changes to their finances in order to renew Messi's deal which expires at the end of the month. Step forward, adult website Stripchat

The website and social network - a leading adult webcam company - have offered a $10 million fee to Barcelona president Joan Laporta in exchange for a deal of their own.

Image credit: PA

Max Bennett, who is the vice president of new media at Stripchat, wrote the following, according to The Daily Star.

"As an avid soccer/football fan, I am aware that FC Barcelona is working on finding funds to afford a new contract for the face of your franchise Lionel Messi.

"It would be a shame to have Leo, who has been registered as a Barcelona player for 20 years, leave.

"In an effort to help fund his contract, I wanted to offer $10M to become the live streaming partner for Barca for the upcoming season.

"At Stripchat, we specialise in broadcasting quality adult live streams to 420 million fans monthly across the world.

"Leveraging our technology and network, we could give a different kind of pleasure by live streaming soccer/football and Messi to the world!"

Image credit: PA

In terms of Barca's financial situation, Javier Tebas has hinted there could be serious ramifications if these adjustments to the squad are not made in the coming months.

"They have to reduce salaries in the squad consistently or produce fees from sold players. Publicly, I cannot tell of the plan Barcelona have," he said.

"They know that if they don't sell an important player of the current squad that they have players with contracts in force that they cannot include."

Do you think Messi will stay at Barcelona?

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Topics: Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Argentina, La Liga

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_