Lionel Messi's father says there is a possibility that his son stays at Barcelona for the final year of his contract amid claims that the club captain is leaning towards abandoning his attempt to leave the Catalan giants.
The future of the Argentinean has been a a hot topic ever since he expressed his desire to leave the Nou Camp last month, citing what he believes to be an active clause in his contract that allows him to walk away for free.
Messi had become exasperated with events at the club, who suffered an embarrassing 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the restarted Champions League.
That led to the departure of Quique Setien as manager as well as Eric Abidal as sporting director, with Ronald Koeman stepping into the breach as the new coach.
With the saga surrounding Messi's future the hottest topic in Koeman's in-tray, the star's father Jorge has been holding talks with Barca chiefs in a bid to thrash out his son's future.
Now some reports in Argentina have begun to claim that Messi is leaning towards staying at the club for another season amid a lack of progress with his attempts to leave.
Barca are remaining adamant that Messi will not be allowed to leave on a free transfer before the end of his contract as any such clause allowing him to do so has expired.
When a reporter from Spanish publication Deportes Cuatro asked Messi Snr if he was looking into the possibility that his son stayed at the club this season and left on a free next year, he simply replied: "Yes."
Messi's Barcelona teammate Frenkie de Jong claims the whole situation has been "chaos" at the club.
"I followed this from a distance and, how should I say, it's kind of chaos now, many things are going on," De Jong told reporters from the Netherlands camp.
"But I didn't speak with Messi personally, not with the club.
"I will see when I arrive after this week in Barcelona how things are going, and what is really happening.
"Honestly I don't know what will happen."
Will Messi leave Barcelona this summer? Have your say in the comments
Sign up for the Mirror Football newsletter here
