Lionel Messi is currently contracted with Barcelona until 2021 after signing a deal back in 2017 that saw him become one of the best-paid players on the planet.
The Argentina international has spent the entire of his professional career with the La Liga giants, helping them win 10 titles and four Champions League crowns.
Barcelona chief Josep Maria Bartomeu said back in April that he wants to keep Messi for life, saying: “We want him to have a really long career so we can keep on enjoying him.
“Lionel’s managed to break down borders. Everyone admires him and he’s applauded at other stadiums by rival fans.
“We would like to renew his contract, that’s the idea. He is young – you can see that [in his performances] – and he still has two years on his deal.
“He’s always improving, always innovating. I believe he still has many years in front of him and in the coming months we will sit down with him so that he has many more years at Barcelona.
“Messi is a one-club man. It’s more than what he does on the pitch — his relationship with Barca will last forever. I use the example of Pele, who was always at Santos. We want Messi to always be at Barca, whether that’s playing or linked to the club [when he’s retired].”
Messi wants Barcelona to sign Neymar this summer, with the Brazil international eager to leave PSG behind.
But Hunter believes the club risk losing their star asset if they fail to agree to his demands.
He wrote for ESPN India: “The financial gymnastics in which Barcelona are indulging to sign both Neymar and Griezmann are, to any Barca purist from the Johan Cruyff/Guardiola/Txiki Begiristain school of thought, an aberration.
“It’s the mentality of Real Madrid-esque Galactico purchasing – nearly €300m lavished on Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele, but hey ‘cash them in and re-splurge!’
“The team seems jaded, or wilts in the red-hot heat of Anfield. Just like in Paris, Turin or Rome in recent years.
“Adding Griezmann and Neymar is another nod of disrespect, indeed disdain, not only towards the youth academy (La Masia) work and ideals, but more specifically to Carles Alena and Ricki Puig whose form and maturity are beginning to demand significantly more game time in the first XI.
“Let’s not ignore the dilemma of club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, either, after he explicitly stated that one of his legacies, before his mandate ends in 2021, should be renewing Messi’s contract once again.
“If, as I believe, Messi has made it clear to Bartomeu that he must try to bring Neymar ‘home’ then how does the president slap that request down, or ignore it, but then start what he hopes will be fruitful, effective negotiations with team Messi?”
La Liga chief Javier Tebas, meanwhile, does not want Neymar to return to Barcelona.
“I prefer that Neymar does not return to Barca,” he told Onda Cero.
“We always want to bring great players, but in the case of Neymar that behaviour is not good for the competition because in the end the news is if the player has done this or that.
“We have worked a lot in La Liga to maintain the values and we don’t want to change the image.”