BARCELONA: Leo Messi may finish paying more than €40m, according to local media reports, to resolve a dispute with the Spanish revenue over allegations of tax evasion.

According to the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia, the Barcelona playmaker may be ordered to meet this massive extra demand to settle a claim for the years 2007-2012 .

According to the newspaper, the sum is composed of €10m already paid by Messi last year, for 2010 and 2011, plus a fine to be imposed by the courts in the event of an agreement.

A further €25m would be necessary to meet a claim over sums owed in previous years.

Sources close to Messi have denied these ‘worst case’ estimates, saying: “The report is false. What is published is not right. There was some movement about a new payment and now we are waiting for the verdict of the judge.”

In May last year Messi was accused of evading taxes through a diversion of revenues to accounts in tax havens. He attended a hearing in September 2013 for which a decision is still pending.

#############