US$ 965,000 💰 | Napkin that launched Lionel Messi's Barcelona career sold in London

The famous napkin that linked a young Lionel Messi to Barcelona for the first time sold for US$ 965,000 on Friday, British auction house Bonhams has announced.

An agreement in principle to sign the-then 13 year-old Messi was written on the napkin almost 25 years ago at a Barcelona tennis club. A more formal and detailed contract between player and club followed soon after.

An undisclosed percentage of the sale price pays administrative fees for the online auction, in what's called the buyer's premium.

Bonhams said the auction was on behalf of Horacio Gaggioli, an agent from Messi's home country of 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 go through.

Jorge Messi had threatened to take his son back to Argentina because negotiations with Barcelona had stalled.

The napkin, containing the date 14th December 2000, bears the signatures of Gaggioli, another agent, Josep Maria Minguella and Barcelona's then-sporting director, Carles Rexach.

Rexach had asked a waiter for some paper, but was given a blank napkin.

The starting price US$ 379,000.

Messi spent nearly two decades with Barcelona after arriving from Argentina at the age of 13.

He made his first-team debut in 2004 and played 17 seasons with the main squad. He helped the club win every major trophy, including the Champions League four times and the Spanish league 10 times.

Messi, now 36, left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021. He has since joined Inter Miami.

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