Gerard Pique has urged Lionel Messi to stay at Barcelona, insisting that the club will do everything it can to convince the superstar attacker to sign a new contract.
The 33-year-old is out of contract in the summer and can discuss terms of a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs from January.
He has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester City and the Blues believe they would be at the front of the queue to land him were he to leave Catalonia.
Negotiations over a new deal are yet to begin as Barca wait for a new president to be elected following the resignation of Josep Maria Bartomeu in October.
Speaking at a Q&A session for the CRIS Cancer Foundation, Pique said he was hopeful a new contract can be agreed with his teammate.
"You will have to ask Leo, I don't know," Pique said when asked if Messi will remain at the Nou Camp. "We hope he stays. It's a personal decision. We will see, but for as long as he's wearing the Barca shirt, there is always hope. We hope to seduce him to stay for many more years."
Messi was missing from Barca's 4-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League in midweek.
Yet manager Ronald Koeman said his absence was nothing serious and he had instead been rested for a week.
"Messi had a good break this week, as did Frenkie de Jong," Koeman said on Saturday. "Both had played nearly every minute for us this season, in addition to many games with their national teams.
"They can't keep going and going and going. To avoid problems, we left them at home in midweek. But we will need them."
