Napkin used by Barcelona to sign Messi sold for hefty price at auction
The starting price was £300,000 for the napkin
Auction house Bonhams confirmed on Friday that the napkin which was used by Barcelona to rope in Lionel Messi was sold for £762,400.
Messi was only 13 when Barcelona promised to sign him by using the aforementioned napkin.
Barca's former sporting director Carles Rexach, transfer advisor Josep Minguella and Argentine agent Horacio Gaggioli signed the napkin over lunch at a tennis club in December 2000.
The starting price was £300,000 for the napkin, which is 16.5 x 16.5cm and was laminated and framed.
When translated into English from Spanish, the napkin reads: "In Barcelona, on 14 December 2000 and in the presence of Messrs 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."
The napkin proved to be the beginning of an illustrious career for Messi as he ended up winning over 30 trophies and departing the Spanish club as their all-time highest scorer with 672 goals.
He also clinched a record eight Ballon d'Or awards for the world's best player and was instrumental in Argentina’s victory in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Messi now plys his trade for 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."
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