Barcelona director assures fans over Messi's contract situation

Bengaluru, September 3: Barcelona director Albert Soler insists there is no problem with Lionel Messi's new contract, which remains unsigned.

Barcelona director Albert Soler has sent a "message of peace" to fans concerned with Lionel Messi yet to sign his new contract.

Messi agreed an extension running to 2021 in July, but has yet to put pen to paper, with the 30-year-old reportedly not happy with the club's transfer dealings especially the €222 million move of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain.

Barcelona did manage to sign French wonderkid Ousmane Dembele as a direct replacement of Neymar but the club failed to land their primary target Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool despite making a number of bids.

This is not the first time when Messi is delaying a contract extension. This has happened many times before but this is a time when the Barcelona fans are infuriated and tensed about the future of the club and rivals Real Madrid are easily the most dominant side in not only Spain but also the whole world.

Despite widespread criticism of their transfer window as a whole, Soler claims there is no problem with Messi\'s contract and remains adamant it will be signed when the time is right.

"There is no problem, I want to send a message of peace to the members," Soler told reporters on Saturday.

"There has been the United States tour, we've had international duty, the season starting, there is absolutely no problem where Messi is concerned."

Soler denied suggestions the Barcelona board were angry with Neymar\'s former team-mates for not alerting them to his potential exit, but accepted his move impacted the club\'s ability to make new signings.

"Let's not get into players, they have a personal life, we respect that and we understand," Soler added. "We don't expect explanations from players. We manage the club from the situations that we are confronted by.

"When we received the sense that PSG were talking to Neymar, this was on the U.S. tour, this was when we started working.

"Neymar is a very difficult player to replace so it has nothing to do with whether the money we received was good or bad.

"The real problem is not how much money we have, the problem is Neymar has gone.

"Let's face the facts, Neymar's departure has affected us in a sporting sense and that has had an effect on our negotiations."