After months of speculation, the world finally knows where Lionel Messi will be playing next season, after reportedly agreeing to take a pay cut to stay at Barcelona for five more years.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner had been a free agent since the end of June, but despite the allure and financial rewards available at Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, now seems certain to end his career in Catalunya.
According to ESPN, Messi has accepted a 50% pay cut to stay at the club he joined as a teenager and will rejoin his teammates in training after enjoying a holiday with his family, having only recently ended a grueling but successful Copa America campaign with Argentina.
Barcelona finds itself in financial disarray after years of mismanagement at board level and it had been thought that Messi would have to move on if the club was to adhere to salary cap regulations set out by La Liga.
But after signing lifelong friend Sergio Aguero in the offseason, along with free agents Eric Garcia and Memphis Depay, a deal has been struck for Messi to return to the Blaugrana.
Reports of Messi potentially leaving Barcelona first surfaced last summer when the club was beaten 8-2 in the UEFA Champions League by Bayern Munich. Unhappy at how the club had been run by former president Josep Maria Bartomeu, Messi revealed in an interview with Goal that he was looking to move on to pastures new.
But by March, insiders at the club felt Messi could be persuaded to stay after the re-election of Juan Laporta, with whom the club's record goalscorer has always had a positive relationship, ever since breaking into the first team during Laporta's first tenure.
Laporta has always been a popular member among Barcelona members, but that popularity could now hit its peak after securing the future of the club's greatestst ever player.
With 10 La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions Leagues already to his name, Messi can now add to both his and Barca's trophy cabinet as he seems set to play in the blue and red close to his 40th birthday.