Messi: Contract demands untrue

Lionel Messi insists he has not asked for an improved contract at Barcelona, despite recent reports suggesting that he had.

The 26-year-old only penned a new five-year-deal with the La Liga champions back in February, but reports in Spain have suggested that summer-signing Neymar has since overtaken him as Barca's biggest earner.

Javier Faus, Barcelona's vice-president, had questioned whether Messi deserved a new deal earlier this month, although the Argentina star maintains that he never asked for one.

"Mr. Faus knows nothing about football and wants to run Barcelona like a business, which it's not," Messi told Catalan radio station Rac1.

"Barcelona is the best club in the world and it should be run by the best directors in the world.

"Neither I nor any of my representatives have asked for an improved contract.

"The truth is that I'm focused on my recovery and not thinking about anything else."