While many in England are preoccupied with Arsenal letting the likes of Alexis Sánchez and Mesut Özil reach the last 12 months of their contract, in Spain it’s a much bigger situation.

Barcelona’s summer of chaos saw Lionel Messi fail to sign a new contract.

The legendary Argentine’s contract runs out at the Camp Nou at the end of this season, as despite many false dawns, he hasn’t signed a new deal.

Barcelona’s board are preaching calm to worried fans, but they’ve heard it all before – they’ve been promised a new deal for him on a number of occasions and it is yet to come to fruition.

Albert Soler, director of professional sports, said yesterday in a press conference explaining their transfer window: “Soon. When we say soon, it means soon. I want to send this message to those who may be worried.

“An announcement comes after the agreement is signed off by both parties. The only thing missing is this formal act.

“There is no problem, I insist, it will happen soon. It depends on the agendas, from here I want to send a message of tranquillity to the Barcelona members. Please be calm.”

A disastrous summer at Barcelona

Yet, there is no surprise they aren’t calm. They lost Neymar and failed to sign two major targets in Marco Verratti and Philippe Coutinho.

It was a disaster from start to finish and after his departure, Neymar hit out at the Barcelona board, saying they run the club badly.

Perhaps that’s why Messi is stalling on signing a new contract, as he too has lost faith with the current hierarchy at the Camp Nou.

The 30-year-old will be available on a free transfer next summer if he doesn’t sign a new deal, and will be free to speak to clubs outside of Spain from January.

Indeed, Radio Estadio reports that Messi isn’t willing to sign anything until 2018.

And if a new deal isn’t signed by January, there will no doubt be a long line of clubs lining up to approach one of the world’s greatest ever players.

England bound?

Manchester City will surely be at the head of the queue.

They have been building for a moment like this for a while. There is no doubt they’ve been looking at replicating Barcelona as they try to become the biggest football team in the world.

They brought in Txiki Begiristain, Ferran Soriano and Rodolfo Borrell – all former Barça employees – before appointing the man widely acknowledged as the brains behind one of the greatest sides of all time, Pep Guardiola.

And what better way of symbolising Manchester City’s rise in status than by bringing in the man who represents the legendary Barcelona team in Messi?

The Sunday Times reports that City are making moves to do just that.

They claim they have held a clandestine meeting with the Argentine’s representatives where they enquired over the possibility of him making the sensational move when his deal at the Camp Nou expires.

However, reports from Spain go one step further, with AS claiming they could prepare a sensational January move with Barcelona more likely to accept as they would want to get a fee for the world's greatest player.

As well as the Guardiola connection, Messi also could prove those who claim he couldn’t be as good outside of Spain wrong.

While Cristiano Ronaldo has had success in Portugal and England, Messi has only ever played for Barcelona, something the Portuguese’s fans use to claim he is better than the Argentine.

Of course, Messi has proven himself at the very top level, but a new challenge aged 30 while he is still a great may tempt him.

He probably isn’t bothered about showing his doubters that he can do it on a wet Tuesday evening at Stoke City, but the chance of lighting up the Premier League and adding another string to his bow would surely be an attractive prospect.

Messi only needs to look at Zlatan Ibrahimović to see how going to the Premier League later on in your career could be an inspired move.

What’s more, if he is fed up with the off-the-field chaos at Barcelona, he would get relative peace at Manchester City.

The club is being run smoothly, with an exciting project and familiar faces to him in Guardiola and Yaya Touré from Barcelona, as well as Sergio Agüero and Nicolás Otamendi who he’s played alongside for Argentina.

You would also expect Manchester City to be able to pay whatever they want for him. They were once the richest club in the world – although Paris Saint-Germain probably are up there now too – but Neymar’s transfer shows Barcelona may not have the financial nous anymore to keep their best players.

If Messi is unhappy with the finances of his proposed new deal at Barcelona, City can clearly step in.

Other Premier League clubs perhaps would not be willing to splash so much cash, while PSG surely wouldn’t be able to considering the Financial Fair Play investigation being carried out by UEFA.

Messi is of course likely to sign a new deal at Barcelona, but it is not a given, and it does feel like Manchester City have been building for this moment for a while.

There is no doubt they are looking to build a global brand, with City Football Group owning stakes in Melbourne City, Yokohama F. Marinos, New York City, Club Atlético Torque and Girona, but the signing of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi would really take their standing to the next level and put them on the way to achieving their goal of becoming the biggest club in the world.