Paper napkin ‘contract’ to seal Lionel Messi move to FC Barcelona heads to auction with a $380,000 starting bid
CNN
The paper napkin containing the agreement which saw Lionel Messi join FC Barcelona will go to auction with a starting price of $380,000 (£300,000).
The paper napkin containing the agreement which saw Lionel Messi join FC Barcelona will go to auction with a starting price of $380,000 (£300,000). The napkin, which was signed to acquire the talents of then 13-year-old Messi in 2000, will be sold by auction house Bonhams in March. The commitment to a contract was written in blue ballpoint pen by Carles Rexach, the then sporting director of Barça, on the 6.5 x 6.5 inch napkin. “In Barcelona, on December 14, 2000, in the presence of Mssrs. Minguella and Horacio, Carles Rexach, technical secretary of FC Barcelona, hereby agrees under his responsibility and against some dissenting opinions to sign the player Lionel Messi, provided that we keep to the amounts agreed,” Rexach wrote. The napkin is also signed by Horacio Gaggioli, the Argentine agent who first brought Messi to the attention of Barcelona, and Josep Minguella, the transfer advisor to the club at the time. Together with Rexach, Minguella helped organize Messi’s initial audition with the Blaugrana in September 2000.
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