‘Just incredible’: Spanish TV goes hysterical & artist makes huge image of Messi on lake in Iran as Barca icon’s deal ends (VIDEO)

A famous Spanish TV football program piled on the drama around Barcelona by running an epic countdown until the expiry of the deal held by Lionel Messi, who has also been depicted in gigantic form by an artist on a lake in Iran.

Now a free agent after his deal expired on June 30, this is the first time since 2000 – when he joined the club as a teenager with growth problems – that Messi has not had a valid Barcelona contract. 

In typical fashion, the pro-Real Madrid Spanish TV program El Chiringuito – which has delivered similarly outrageous content on the likes of Los Blancos flop Eden Hazard in recent months – ran an over-the-top countdown until midnight July 1.

In front of a huge countdown clock, presenter Josep Pedrerol went silent for the last minute-and-a-half of the remaining time, as the studio turned dark and audiences across Spain watched it fall to zero.

When it did hit the landmark, the studio was lit up once more with flashing lights as Pedrerol said: "It’s 12am; Lionel Messi is no longer a Barca player."

Pedrerol used dramatic pauses as he discussed the ongoing situation regarding Messi.

Not long after, a mock-up picture showed Messi turning from wearing a Blaugrana shirt to a plain black one, symbolizing his exit from his club of more than two decades while the presenter rubbed his hands together.

"We want Leo to stay and he wants to stay," club president Joan Laporta explained to Onda Cero's 'El Transistor', discussing the forward who is currently at the Copa America in Brazil with Argentina. 

"Everything's going the right way, and we're trying to find a solution that we're all happy with. It's about [Financial] 'fair play' now.

"I'd love to say he is staying but I can't say that yet because we're still working through things," Laporta concluded, in a nod to comments made by La Liga chief Javier Tebas recently in which it was suggested that Barca – who are in more than $1 billion of debt – must balance the books before persuading Messi to renew terms.

It has long been reported that the Catalans want him to agree to a two-year deal with an extra, optional season before he heads to Major League Soccer in the US, then returning to Barcelona to take up a role behind the scenes at the Camp Nou after retiring.

Until then, Messi is not short of offers – but not from likely suitors such as Manchester City, Inter Milan or PSG.

Self-styled "worst club in the world" Ibis – a Brazilian team who entered The Guinness Book of World records for going almost a full four years without a win – want Messi to continue his career on their books.

Posting their contract proposal to him on Twitter, the 15-year deal comes with stipulations such as his salary being based on productivity – and he would not be allowed to score lots of goals or become a champion.

In addition to not being able to wear his iconic No. 10 shirt, which has been retired at the club in honor of Mauro Shampoo, he must also "swear three times in front of the mirror that Brazilian great Pele is better than his compatriot Diego Maradona should he wish to feature for the minnows based in Recife."

In news unrelated to his employment, an Iranian artist has paid a stunning tribute to the six-time Ballon d'Or winner.

Using a mixture of charcoal with water, Abolfazi Sadeghi has painted a 2,000 square meter-long sketch of Messi across a dry lake in the 'Salt Bowl' of Sirjan City.

"Because our area is limited, we skipped the scale factor. But due to a large number of project points, we had to divide the area into five parts," explained Sadeghi.

GPS was used, with Sadeghi revealing how "the player's eyes and mouth were one [piece of] work, the player's left ear was another, the body was another piece and the eternal 10 that is written below was another."

"An iconic birthday wish for Leo Messi," wrote the superstar's official store account on Instagram. "We’ve never seen anything like this before…

"A true master of his craft, land surveyor Abolfazi Sadeghi wishes Leo Messi a happy birthday with the largest charcoal painting in the world," it continued.

"[It's] the biggest charcoal painting in the world, demonstrating Leo Messi’s face and set out using survey technology in the Salt Bowl (Kafe-namak in Sienna, Kerman, Iran.)"