Messi to stay on at Barca as long as fans 'feel affection' after new 20 mln-euro deal

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has said that he would stay on at the club as long as it felt 'affection' for him despite reportedly signing a new 20 million-euro deal with the club until 2018.

Barcelona revealed that an agreement over a new deal had been reached and the Argentine officially put pen to paper in the presence of his father, club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, sporting vice-president Jordi Mestre and CEO Antoni Rossich.

According to Sport24, the four-time World Player of the Year has said he will only stay at Barcelona long as the club's fans felt 'affection' for him even though he insisted that he remains committed to the club despite a disappointing trophy-less season.

The report mentioned that Messi was booed by certain sections of the Camp Nou crowd as Barcelona narrowly missed out on winning La Liga on Saturday in a 1-1 home draw to Atletico Madrid, who took the title for the first time in 18 years.

Stating that he took the decision to continue at the club as he feels the club's fans still feel 'affection' for him, Messi said that he would for a solution if that was not the case as he will always want the best for Barcelona.

Barcelona ended the season without a major trophy for the first time in six years forcing coach Gerardo Martino to quit after just one season in charge.

Messi said it had been a 'hard year, personally and as a group', and apologised to fans, promising to do better next season.