Barcelona ended the 2019/2020 season in a disappointing fashion, suffering an 8-2 defeat to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final.
The Catalans were also dethroned as Spanish champions by rivals Real Madrid, which means they ended the season without a trophy.
Many have opined that Messi might be tempted to leave the Camp Nou in search for a new team that could match his ambition, but after sacking sporting director Eric Abidal and head coach Quique Setien, Bartomeu has confirmed that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner will be vital for Barcelona in the coming seasons.
“Messi wants to end his career at Barcelona," under-fire Bartomeu told Barca TV.
"I regularly speak to him and his father. He’s part of our project. Koeman will be the new manager and he told me that Messi is a key player for our new project.
"The renovation will be as deep as necessary," the Spaniard added.
“I decided to give this generation the opportunity for another year. Perhaps it was time to start the renovation last year."
Barcelona have been yearning to re-sign Neymar who joined Paris Saint-Germain for a world record fee of €222 in the summer of 2017.
A move for the Brazil superstar was expected this summer after an attempt to secure his services failed last year, but Bartomeu is not sure if Barcelona could get the 28-year-old as PSG are unwilling to sell.
"Neymar back to Barcelona? PSG don’t want to sell him on this summer," the president said.
“We’re not in talks for Lautaro Martinez right now, we stopped negotiations with Inter at the end of June. We’ll see what will happen."
