The napkin on which Barcelona promised to sign Lionel Messi when he was a 13-year-old has been sold for $969,000, auction house Bonhams said on Friday.
The napkin was signed in December, 2000 by Barca's former sporting director Carles Rexach and transfer advisor Josep Minguella along with Argentine agent Horacio Gaggioli over lunch at a tennis club.
Lionel Messi napkin sells for nearly $1 million
The napkin on which FC Barcelona promised to sign Lionel Messi when he was 13 has been sold for nearly $969,000, auction house Bonhams said https://t.co/OMLlZCiyBv pic.twitter.com/Qm0ZLq7swj
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 17, 2024
The napkin on which Lionel Messi's very first contract with FC Barcelona was signed has officially gone up for auction today in London, with a starting price of around €348,000.
The famous napkin reads as follows:'In Barcelona on 14 December 2000 in the presence of Josep… pic.twitter.com/TR0CyX2a8V
— (@TheEuropeanLad) May 8, 2024
"In Barcelona on 14 December 2000 in the presence of Josep Minguella and Horacio, Carles Rexach, FC Barcelona's sporting director, hereby agrees, under his responsibility and regardless of any dissenting opinions, to sign the player Lionel Messi, provided that we keep to the amounts agreed upon."
Messi became one of Barcelona's greatest players, winning over 30 trophies and leaving the Catalan club as their all-time leading scorer with 672 goals.
He also won a record eight Ballon d'Or awards for the world's best player and led Argentina to the World Cup crown in 2022. Messi now plays for U.S. club Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
"Yes, it's a paper napkin, but it's the famous napkin that was at the inception of Lionel Messi's career," Ian Ehling, the head of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York, said in a statement.
"It changed the life of Messi, the future of FC Barcelona, and was instrumental in giving some of the most glorious moments of football to billions of fans around the globe."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
