Lionel Messi’s Famous Barcelona Napkin Contract Sold For Nearly $1 Million

The napkin on which Barcelona committed to sign a 13-year-old Lionel Messi has been sold in an auction for an nearly $1 million.

The official amount confirmed by auction house Bonhams was $969,000 or an insane £762,400.

The said napkin is iconic in football folklore as it shows the simplicity as to how a 13-year old Lionel Messi committed to join FC Barcelona and move to Spain and also shows how desperate the club were to sign the Argentinian winger.

The napkin was signed in December, 2000 by Barca’s former sporting director Carles Rexach and transfer advisor Josep Minguella along with Argentine agent Horacio Gaggioli over lunch at a tennis club.

Messi managed to become one of Barcelona’s greatest players, winning over 30 trophies and leaving the Catalan club as their all-time leading scorer with 672 goals.

“Yes, it’s a paper napkin, but it’s the famous napkin that was at the inception of Lionel Messi’s career,” Ian Ehling, the head of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York, said in a statement.

“It changed the life of Messi, the future of FC Barcelona, and was instrumental in giving some of the most glorious moments of football to billions of fans around the globe.”

#MaltaDaily