LONDON – The famous napkin that linked young Lionel Messi to Barcelona sold for 762,400 pounds ($965,000) on Friday, British auction house Bonhams said.
An agreement in principle to sign Messi, then 13, was written on a napkin almost 25 years ago at a Barcelona tennis club. A more formal and detailed contract with the club emerged soon after.
An undisclosed percentage of the sales price pays online auction administrative fees, in what is called the buyer’s premium.
Bonhams said the auction was on behalf of Horacio Gaggioli, an agent from Messi’s native Argentina, who was part of the deal.
The wording of the contract, written in blue ink, was intended to assure the teenager’s father, Jorge Messi, that the deal would be completed.
Jorge Messi threatened to take his son back to Argentina because negotiations with Barcelona were at a standstill.
The napkin, bearing the date December 14, 2000, bears the signatures of Gaggioli, another agent, Josep Maria Minguella, and Barcelona’s then sporting director, Carles Rexach, who met at a tennis club.
Rexach asked the waiter for paper and received a blank napkin.
The starting price was 300,000 pounds ($379,000).
Messi spent almost two decades at Barcelona after arriving from Argentina at the age of 13 to play for their youth teams. He made his debut for the first team in 2004 and played 17 seasons for the first team. He helped the club win every major trophy, including the Champions League four times and the Spanish league 10 times.
Messi left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021. He has since joined Inter Miami.
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AP Football:
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