This time last year, former Argentina forward, former Real Madrid coach and eternal footballing philosopher Jorge Valdano summarised the Lionel Messi situation perfectly.

“I keep thinking that there is only one thing worse than Messi leaving Barcelona,” Valdano wrote in El Pais, “And that is Messi staying in these conditions.”

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The conditions, of course, involved Barcelona being in financial turmoil off the pitch, and a shambles on it, having just been humbled 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Ronald Koeman was a curious choice of new manager. Luis Suarez was about to be released, a decision that proved even more disastrous by the end of the campaign, and others seemed set to follow. Messi, sick of everything, announced his intention to leave.

When that fell through, and he returned to the first team, he evidently wasn’t right. From his first eight league appearances of the season — seemingly his final season at the Nou Camp — Messi managed just three goals, two of them from the penalty spot.

But Valdano, for once, was wrong. Seeing Messi in another club’s shirt would have felt ghastly, certainly, but the alternative didn’t prove disastrous. In fact, it proved unexpectedly joyous.

The debate about Messi’s future, even before last season’s burofax soap opera and this season’s understated drama — he is currently out of contract, and therefore without a club — has always been framed in a simple manner.

There were two options. Messi could see out his career at Barcelona and become the ultimate one-club man, probably passing 1,000 appearances in a Barca shirt. Or, alternatively, he could venture elsewhere and “prove himself” in another country. In that case, the only options were a reunion with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, or a reunion with Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain.

And therefore a change would, in a sense, be more of the same. There can be few who realistically think Messi would have any on-field problems adjusting to the Premier League or Ligue 1, playing for sides who routinely win their domestic title anyway.

Yes, a move to either would be an opportunity to get nouveau riche clubs over the line in the European Cup, but these are the defeated finalists from the past two seasons; both were only one match away from winning the Champions League anyway. PSG were arguably the better side against Bayern, while City started the final against Chelsea as favourites.

Messi might well make a difference. But would he really be proving anything? Messi would roughly be in the situation he’s spent most of his career because City and PSG start this season as first and third favourites for the Champions League.

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Barcelona, on the other hand, are currently seventh favourites. And that is with Messi (albeit not officially until his contract renewal is confirmed). Without Messi, Barcelona would probably drop to around 10th favourites. They are, without his presence, just not very good.

And this is why the situation works perfectly. Most people surely wanted Messi to remain with Barcelona for the sheer romance, but it’s also entirely legitimate to have spent recent years wondering quite how transformative Messi would be in a slightly lesser side.

This is the eternal debate in various sports.

Would Lewis Hamilton be the most successful F1 driver in a lesser car? Would Mark Cavendish be the best sprinter with a cycling team less capable of giving him a perfect lead-out? Would Messi still be the best player in the world if you put him at a mid-table side? This sometimes strays into the slightly absurd concept that these individuals must join a lesser team to give their victories legitimacy, but it’s perfectly reasonable to wonder.

And now, with Messi, we’re finding out the answer. Granted, not literally a mid-table side. But — again, taking a reasonable guess — the 10th most-likely side to win the Champions League if Messi wasn’t there. That, in terms of putting the world’s greatest player in a relatively mediocre side, is probably as good as we’re likely to get.

Last season, therefore, Messi proved himself in a different situation. He proved himself more than had he gone to Manchester City or PSG. In a desperately flawed side, Messi dominated La Liga as impressively as ever, somehow managing to end the campaign as, effectively, the league’s best goalscorer, its best creator and its best dribbler — as ever, three world-class players in one.

You become so accustomed to Messi’s superiority that sometimes you forget that below-par Messi is still regularly the game’s best player. Statistical rankings of individual performances, which may be imperfect in terms of algorithms but have the benefit of ignoring anything to do with expectations or reputations, suggest Messi is the man of the match in well over 50 per cent of his appearances.

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The Copa America was another example of his ability to drag an average side to loftier heights than they deserve. Although relatively unproductive in the 1-0 final victory over Brazil, Messi won the awards for best player and top goalscorer before lifting the Copa America trophy as captain.

The debate about Messi’s international fortunes has sometimes strayed into lunacy — if you think, in this era, with all the imbalances that come with international football, that Messi’s career was somehow incomplete without such a trophy, you’re probably kidding yourself. But equally, it’s nevertheless been fascinating to see Messi’s efforts with Argentina over the years — again, as much because he’s doing it with inferior players, rather than because international honours mean more. He has routinely been one of the best players at the tournament, whether World Cup, Copa America or Olympics.

And, therefore, the past year has not been the unmitigated disaster that Valdano and the rest of us suspected; it’s been one of the most impressive of Messi’s career. If Barcelona were still the force of, say, 2014-15, would it really have changed your perception of Messi if he’d turned 10 La Liga titles into 11? Does four European Cups not really do it for you, but five make you truly appreciate him? Presumably not.

Instead, in a side with a misfiring attack, a dysfunctional defence, and a midfield which is actually quite good but nothing compared to the glory years, Messi has played so well that he’s odds-on favourite for the Ballon d’Or.

It’s difficult to know whether Messi’s new contract makes financial sense without knowing the precise details, and without a fine grasp of Barcelona’s overall economic situation. But in footballing terms, Messi shows little sign of decline.

He’s increasingly unhelpful without possession, granted, but if you have the chance to sign the best dribbler, the best creator and the best goalscorer in your league on a free transfer, you probably don’t mind paying over the odds in terms of wages.

Messi remains the best footballer in the world. At the age of 34 that’s somewhat surprising, and yet in this Barcelona side, it’s clearer than ever.

(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)