Barcelona have extended Henrik Larsson’s contract by an extra year, despite the Swedish striker missing the rest of the season due to a knee injury.

“Barcelona want the player to concentrate on recovering from the injury without having to worry about his contractual situation,” the Catalan club said on its website on Tuesday.

Larsson signed a onme-year deal with the club which was due to have been extended if he had played 60 percent of matches. Obviously, his latest injury means he will be unable to fulfill that quota, bt the club have decided to renew the deal until June 2006.

“I have offered a contract renewal to Larsson so that he can put his mind at rest during this difficult time,” Laporta told Catalan television station TV3.

The 33-year-old striker had told a Swedish newspaper that he was considering retirement after undergoing keyhole surgery.

“I can’t say if I will continue or quit before I have all the cards on the table,” Larsson told Helsingborg Dagblad on Tuesday.

“Right now everything is just so grim and tiring. There are a lot of thoughts moving through my head. I had really hoped it would not be so serious.”