Barcelona's supporters are waiting for confirmation of Lionel Messi's four-year contract renewal, but Oscar Grau, the Blaugrana's chief executive officer, says the Catalan club is thinking beyond 2021.

On Saturday, at Barcelona's annual general meeting, Grau declared that the Blaugrana will offer Messi a "lifetime contract," as the club wants to be linked to the Argentinian phenom after he hangs up his boots.

"Messi signed a four-year deal in June, but the club will offer him a lifetime contract," Grau stated, according to ESPN FC's Samuel Marsden. "The idea is for Leo, who has been here since he was little, to stay here for life because he is an icon. After his playing days, we want him to continue to be linked to the club."

In July, Barcelona announced that Messi agreed to a contract renewal that will keep the planet's top footballer at the club until June 30, 2021, saying the deal "will be signed in the coming weeks." Josep Maria Bartomeu, the Blaugrana's president, told Sport in September that "everything is agreed and signed," and claimed all that's left is an official photograph and the protocol of the signature.

Messi moved to Barcelona in 2000 as a 13-year-old, arriving from Newell's Old Boys.