Barcelona superstar, Lionel Messi said on Thursday that he was looking forward to the start of the new season with new coach Ernesto Valverde.
Messi, who is set to sign a new contract to keep him at the La Liga club until 2021, attended an event organised by Japan’s ecommerce giant Rakuten Inc in Tokyo, Japan, to mark the beginning of their shirt sponsorship with the club.
Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani took to the stage with Messi and his teammates Neymar, Gerard Pique and Arda Turan, to show off the new jersey the players will be wearing next season.
Barcelona agreed last year to the four-year deal for their shirt sponsorship with Rakuten worth £55 million ($58.90 million) a year excluding potential add-ons.
Barcelona — once renowned for never having had a sponsor on their shirts — will earn an additional 1.5 million euros for each time they win La Liga and an additional 5 million euros each time they win the Champions League.
The deal, which has an option to extend into a fifth season, will begin from the 2017-18 campaign.
