Barca: No new Messi contract talks

Published Dec. 11, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Barcelona vice-president Javier Faus says that the club are not about to open contract talks with Lionel Messi, but Gerard Pique is next in line for a renewal.

Messi only signed his current deal, which runs to 2018, in February, but since then Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new long-term deal, which is widely understood to have made him the best-paid player on the planet. Reports in Catalunya have also claimed that Messi has been eclipsed as Barca's highest-paid player by summer signing Neymar. However, Faus insists that the club are not looking at Messi's contract at the moment.

"I do not know why we have to do it again. We do not have to improve a contract every six months," Faus told radio station RAC 1.

He also added that there was 'zero possibility' of selling Messi, which was another reason that a new deal was not yet needed. But Pique is in line for a deal with his current contract due to expire in 2015. "We are preparing an offer for a new deal and it will be presented to his agent soon," Faus added on Pique.

Barca are also still working on a new deal for Andres Iniesta, whilst talks are also ongoing with the likes of Marc Bartra, Martin Montoya and Tonny Sanabria - all of whom have been strongly linked with moves to England.