LIONEL MESSI’S wife Antonela Roccuzzo is reportedly house-hunting for a new property near Barcelona in a new sign the star striker could remain with the Catalan giants.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta said after Messi lifted the Copa del Rey on Saturday having scored twice in his side’s 4-0 win over Atletico Bilbao that he was ‘convinced’ the Argentinian wanted to stay.
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And on Tuesday it was claimed Antonela is looking for a new house for the couple and their children in the Garraf region just south of the Catalan capital.
The mum-of-three is said to have been searching for a property in the coastline area, just over half an hour’s drive south of Barcelona, for several weeks.
The Garraf region includes the popular resort town of Sitges, where Messi owns a four-star hotel.
It has not been made clear whether the football star and his childhood sweetheart are planning to buy a new property as an investment or want to move from their current home on the exclusive Bellamar residential estate in Castelldefels which is slightly nearer Barcelona.
They bought the mansion for £3.5million in 2009 and have spent more than £5m on renovations.
The property is close to the place former teammate Philippe Coutinho was living at when he was burgled in February 2018 soon after signing for Barcelona from Liverpool.
Luiz Suarez’s nearby home was also targeted a month before that in a crime blamed on an Albanian gang dubbed the Kojak gang.
The house-hunting reports emerged a couple of days after Messi’s dad and agent Jorge was spotted in Barcelona.
He was seen watching a Barcelona B match on Sunday with another son Rodrigo after jetting to the Catalan capital from Miami for the first time since Lionel’s attempted departure from Barcelona last year.
Jorge is expected to sit down with Laporta for talks on his son’s future once Barcelona complete an internal audit of its accounts and is in a better position to know what it can offer Messi to try to persuade him to stay at Nou Camp.
In the meantime the star’s dad is expected to fly to Italy to deal with personal commitments.
Messi’s current Barcelona deal expires on June 30.
The Argentina international sought to leave the Catalan club last summer but stayed put after Barcelona threatened to take the 33-year-old to court if he pushed through with his attempt to depart.
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