The famous napkin united a young person Lionel Messi ARRIVE Barcelona sold for $965,000 on Friday, British auction house Bonhams said.
An agreement in principle to sign the then 13-year-old Messi was written on a napkin nearly 25 years ago at a tennis club in Barcelona. A more formal and detailed contract with the club followed soon after.
An undisclosed percentage of the sale price will pay the online auction’s administrative fees, known as the buyer’s premium.
Bonhams said the auction was made on behalf of Horacio Gaggioli, an agent from Messi’s native Argentina, who was part of the deal.
The contract language, written in blue ink, was intended to reassure the teenager’s father, Jorge Messi, that the deal would get done.
Jorge Messi once threatened to take his son back to Argentina because negotiations with Barcelona had stalled.
The napkin, dated December 14, 2000, is signed by 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 was given a white napkin.
Starting price is $379,000.
Messi has spent nearly two decades with Barcelona after coming from Argentina at the age of 13 to play in the youth team. He debuted for the first team in 2004 and played 17 seasons with the first team. He helped the club win every major title, including the Champions League four times and the Spanish championship 10 times.
Messi left Barcelona Paris SG in the summer of 2021. He has joined Inter Miami.
Associated Press reports.
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