The napkin on which Lionel Messi’s first deal with Barcelona was informally written has been put up for auction.
Bonhams – a private international auction house based in London – is holding the auction until May 17, with a starting price of £220,000 ($274.55,000), on behalf of the Argentine player’s agent Horacio Gaggioli.
The deal was completed on December 14, 2000, with Barcelona manager Carles Rexach desperate for the club to sign Messi, then 13 years old.
Messi had impressed during his two-week trial with Barcelona in September 2000, but the club were initially reluctant to sign such a young, non-European player.
Rexach feared the Catalan club would miss out on signing Messi, who had returned to his hometown of Rosario in Argentina.
Gaggioli said Athleticism last year he informed Rexach in December 2000 that if they could not commit to signing Messi, the teenager would be offered to other clubs, including Real Madrid.
Rexach invited Gaggioli to dinner in Barcelona to make a final decision regarding Messi, but there was a problem: Rexach did not have time to draft or print a contract but needed the necessary signatures on a document that would become more later legally binding.
His solution was to take a napkin and write contract words which would then be signed by the parties involved, to signal a legal commitment.
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On the napkin we could read: “In Barcelona, on December 14, 2000, and in the presence of the gentleman (agent Josep Maria) Minguella and Horacio (Gaggioli), Carles Rexach, technical secretary of the FCB, undertakes under his responsibility, despite the opinion of those who oppose the signing of Lionel Messi, as long as the agreed fees are maintained.
Rexach signed the briefcase with football agents Minguella – who had worked on several contracts with Barca in the past, including Diego Maradona – and Gaggioli.
“It’s one of the most exciting objects I’ve ever handled,” said Ian Ehling, head of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York. “Yes, it’s a paper napkin, but it’s the famous napkin that was at the start of Lionel Messi’s career.
“It changed Messi’s life, the future of FC Barcelona, and helped bring some of football’s most glorious moments to billions of fans around the world.”
Commenting on the event years later, Gaggioli called it “a wonderful moment.”
“This napkin helped break the impasse,” he added.
“My lawyers looked at it. The napkin contained everything: my name, his first name, the date. It’s notarized. It was a legal document.
“It will be a part of me for the rest of my life. The towel will always be by my side. I live in Andorra and I kept the briefcase in a safe inside a bank.
On Wednesday, Minguella told Catalunya Radio that the briefcase had been in his office for years and that he had offered to Barcelona to display it in the club’s museum.
He claims he has not received a response from Barcelona and will now ask lawyers to find out who the legal owner of the briefcase is and how anyone can prove they legally own it to put it in sale.
Minguella insisted that he did not wish to profit from the towel, but would rather see it in the Barcelona museum or that if it were sold the money would go to the club’s foundation.
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(Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)