Will Barca see the last of Lionel Messi when his contract ends in 2021?

The former FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has fuelled speculations after voicing his apprehensions that Lionel Messi might walk out of the club at the end of his contract in 2021.

Aside from the continuing Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, July opened with the shocking news that the Argentine football star will not be signing a new contract to extend his stay with the Catalan club.

The six-time winner of the Ballon d'Or is reportedly unhappy with the people currently running Camp Nou.

Laporta, who will once again be running for the club's presidency next summer, is doubting the claims of Barca's current boss, Josep Maria Bartomeu, who expressed confidence that Messi will see out his sterling football career with the club that he has played for his whole life so far.

Lionel Messi signed a four-year extension deal with Barca in 2017 that will see him stay at Camp Nou until June 2021.

While there have been several reports that the football star is increasingly becoming unhappy with Barca, many are expressing confidence that he would stay because he has not exercised a stipulation in his contract, which allows him to walk out for free at the end of any season.

The 33-year-old Barcelona team captain is the club's all-time leading goalscorer with 630 goals.

Laporta told Goal.com that he is hoping that Messi will stay but is afraid that another bad decision of the current Barca board will push him away.

The Argentina national football team captain had expressed his disappointment that the club was not able to bring back Neymar to Camp Nou, saying that he has doubts if they had done all they could to bring the Brazilian football star back from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez had formed a powerful triumvirate for Barca before Neymar left to join PSG in 2017.

Suarez has also spoken out about the future of his fellow South American player and has challenged the club to outline their desire and convince their team captain to stick it with them in the long-term.

Lionel Messi, himself, has yet to address the news of his leaving FC Barcelona, though he has a year to mull over that decision since his contract will end next summer yet.

Image credit courtesy of Jimmy Baikovicius/Flickr