MADRID, June 28 (Reuters) - Barcelona have agreed an improved contract for young Argentine striker Lionel Messi, the Primera Liga champions said on Tuesday. "Messi has opted for Barcelona and we have a lot of confidence in this player. We are convinced his participation in the first team will be very important from now on," sports director Txiki Begiristain told the club's website. "He is a very quick player, with a lot of confidence on the pitch, and with an extraordinary technical ability."
The 18-year-old, who has drawn praise from Diego Maradona after his recent performances with Argentina's under-20 team, has signed a contract with Barca till 2010. After debuting with Barca's first team last October, Messi became the club's youngest ever goalscorer on May 1 when he netted against Albacete at 17 years, 10 months and 7 days. Messi on Tuesday helped Argentina reach the World Youth Cup final in the Netherlands. He scored their opening goal and laid on the extra-time winner in a 2-1 victory over Brazil. Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o is to officially sign his improved contract on Wednesday joining Portugal midfielder Deco, Spain midfielder Xavi and young right back Damia Abella who have all recently agreed contract extensions. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] HAPUS BAGIAN EMAIL YG TIDAK PERLU SEBELUM ME-REPLY. ========================================================== Milis Tabloid BOLA Untuk KELUAR DARI MILIS INI. Kirim Mail kosong (tanpa subject) ke alamat [EMAIL PROTECTED] ========================================================== Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bolaml/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
