Barcelona president Laporta sends crucial message to Lionel Messi amid plots to exit Camp Nou

- Barcelona's new president Joan Laporta has urged Lionel Messi to extend his stay at Camp Nou

- The politician became the chief of the club for the second time this month after their general elections

- The Spaniard has also charged everyone to put all hands on deck in ensuring the club returns to glory days in Europe

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Lionel Messi might have been handed a tangible reason to extend his stay at Barcelona following the re-assuring speech given by Joan Laporta.

The 58-year-old politician was recently elected as the club's president for the second time this month - taking over from Josep Bartomeu.

While addressing the partly filled Camp Nou audience, Joan recounted how the club made massive success in his first spell owing to their stability and unity.

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He added that one of his major assignments would be to ensure Lionel Messi extends his stay at the club beyond this summer.

The 33-year-old's current deal with the Catalans runs out at the end of this season and the Argentine has stalled on signing a new contract with less than three months to the expiration of the deal. Laporta was quoted by Goal saying:

"In our first spell we had the best players in Barca history, but if we were successful it was because we had stability.

"It is Barcelona's unity which gives you stability and I invite everyone at Barcelona to think about what they can do for Barca.

"I am here to make decisions, like convincing Leo to carry on, taking advantage of the fact that he is here. He knows that.

"You know the affection I hold for you and we will do whatever it takes to keep you here. You know you cannot leave, Leo.

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"We will not be able to do it alone. As our anthem says, we are strong altogether. More so in these most difficult times. We know how to do it.

This is coming a few days after Barcelona were dumped out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage by Paris Saint Germain.

Legit.ng earlier reported that Lionel Messi continues to break records in the colours of Barcelona after maintaining a top-scoring form for the club in the last three months.

The Argentine superstar recently equalled Xavi's most appearance record for the Catalans with two superb goals and an assist in their 4-1 over Huesca at Camp Nou.

This means that the 33-year-old has now scored or created an assist in all the La Liga games he has played since he fired blanks in their 2-1 win over Real Sociedad last December.

Oluwatomiwa is a sports editor with Legit.ng. He has over eight years of field and office experience in the media industry. He graduated from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism in 2014 with HND in Mass Communication. Connect with him on Twitter @TomiwaBabalola.