Lionel Messi's father arrives in Barcelona to mediate over the player's future with the La Liga club

Serious deliberations over Lionel Messi’s future at Barcelona is expected to continue on Thursday after Lionel Messi’s father and agent, Jorge Messi, flew in from Argentina on Wednesday.

Jorge Messi boarded a private jet taking him from Rosario to Barcelona and landed in the private terminal of the El Prat airport at around 6.45 am on Wednesday morning according to reports.

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It is believed that Messi senior wants to resolve the impasse between player and club over the forward’s contract situation and would meet Barcelona president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and the rest of the Barcelona board.

Talks were described as ‘exploratory’ and not much progress has been made, with a new face-to-face meeting with the board expected to take place on Thursday.

Jorge Messi was met by a large group from the media while he visited a local restaurant for lunch.

Lionel Messi’s father, Jorge, who arrived in the country will be leading these talks as far as the Messi camp is concerned.

The Barcelona side, however, is disjointed and cannot even agree with each other.

There is the president’s side, who on one hand says Messi has this valid contract and is not going anywhere for less than the asking price.

The other side of the boardroom feel like that is unrealistic - we are in a financial hole, he could leave anyway in a year’s time and meanwhile, hang around not wanting to be here.

Messi has made his intention to leave the La Liga club clear and he no longer considers himself a Barcelona player. He also did not turn up to the club’s Covid-19 testing on Sunday and the subsequent start of training sessions on Monday.