Napkin “contract” for Lionel Messi sells for more than £750,000 at auction

by Mick the Ram

An online auction by London-based Bonham’s has seen a napkin sold for a staggering £762,400 ($965,000), on which Barcelona committed to sign the then 13-year-old Lionel Messi.

That figure was more than double the starting price of £300,000 ($379,000) for the standard Spanish waxy napkin, which has been laminated and framed.

It was signed all the way back in December 2000, at a Barcelona tennis club, and carries a pledge from then Barca sporting director Carles Rexach, to sign the precocious young talent.

It was also signed by Josep Minguella, a transfer adviser to the Spanish club, and agent Horacio Gaggioli, who had initially recommended the special Argentine youngster and was the person on whose behalf Bonham’s had arranged the auctioned sale.

Messi went onto to join the Catalan club a month after the deal was agreed, and made his first-team debut at just 16 years of age. He went on to become their record goalscorer with 672 goals in 778 games and in many people’s minds, became the greatest player of all time.

Resistance to signing from the very top

Although supremely talented as a teenage schoolboy, Messi was very small for his age, so the commitment to sign the youngster from the Spanish giants had some resistance from the Barcelona board of directors.

Nevertheless, Rexach said he had recognized his potential in less than 5 minutes of seeing him in a trial environment, immediately telling his coaches “We have to sign him, don’t even think about it.” He later explained: “I was stunned and excited watching him, seeing what he did with the ball, his movements, his dribbles and his vision; I could see something very different in him.”

Taking matters into own hands

However, the matter dragged on and Rexach sensed Messi’s father, Jorge, was getting cold feet. Indeed, in a phone conversation there was a warning that the family were seriously thinking of returning to Buenos Aires and could come back to Spain, but to Real Madrid instead.

That was the cue for Rexach to take matters into his own hands and set up the meeting as a way to pacify Messi’s father and show that Barcelona were serious about setting up a deal.

Waiter responsible for the napkin

He invited not only Jorge, but also both Minguella and Gaggioli. In a developing situation – that is hard to believe almost 25 years later – Rexach, realising that nobody had any paper available, asked a waiter for something to write on.

The attendant brought back to the table a blank napkin and that item would be the makeshift contract that had each of the men’s signature on, as a demonstration of the club’s commitment to the teenage sensation.

Several lines that brought club a footballing genius

Translated into English, 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.”

A more formal and detailed contract with the club was drawn up a short while later.

“Amongst the most thrilling items ever handled”

Ian Ehling, head of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York, remarked: “What a wonderful result for one of the most thrilling items I have ever handled.”

Accepting that it was essentially just a paper napkin, he clarified his stance by stating: “It is the famous napkin that was at the inception of Lionel Messi’s career and was instrumental in giving some of the most glorious moments of football to billions of fans around the globe.”

Still banging in the goals

Messi of course helped the club win every major trophy including the Champions League four times and the Spanish league 10 times, before eventually leaving for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021.

He has since joined Inter Miami, where continues to star and score goals at will.