Barcelona’s napkin promising to sign 13-year-old Messi has sold at auction for £762,400.
Prices start at £300,000 for the “standard Spanish wax napkins”, which measure 16.5 x 16.5 cm, are laminated and framed.
The napkin, signed in blue ink in December 2000, bears a promise from then Barcelona director Carles Rexach to sign Messi.
The Spanish club’s transfer adviser, Josep Minguella, and the agent who recommended the Argentine youngster, Horacio Gaggioli, also signed the contract.
The blue-ink napkin was auctioned online by London-based Bonhams on behalf of Gaggioli.
A month after the deal was struck, Messi joined Barcelona and became the club’s record goalscorer, considered by many to be the greatest player of all time.
He made his first-team debut at the age of 16 and went on to score a record 672 goals in 778 games for the Catalan club.
Messi won 10 La Liga titles and four Champions League titles with Barcelona before heading to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 – the 36-year-old World Cup winner now plays for Inter Miami.
The napkin was signed at a meeting arranged by Rexach, who invited Messi’s father Jorge to lunch because of concerns about the family’s lack of response from Barcelona following the teenager’s preliminary trial.
Translated into English, it reads: “On December 14, 2000, in Barcelona, in the presence of Messrs. Minghella and Horacio, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, Carles Rexachite This agreement, under his responsibility, regardless of any differences of opinion, to sign the player Lionel Messi, as long as we comply with the agreed amount.
