A remarkable piece of football history is hitting the auction block: the napkin that played a crucial role in launching Lionel Messi's legendary career. The napkin will start with a bidding price of £300,000. Interested buyers have until May 17th to make their offers online through auction house Bonhams.
Back in 2000, napkin served as a contract that sealed Messi's move to Barcelona when he was just 13 years old. The story goes back to Messi's trial with Barcelona in September of that year.
By December, his father Jorge grew impatient with the club's delay in securing his son's future. That's when Carles Rexach, the club's sporting director, intervened.
In a moment now etched in football history, Rexach pulled out a 16.5cm by 16.5cm napkin at the Pompeia tennis club.
Accompanied by the club's transfer adviser Josep Minguella, and the Argentine agent Horacio Gaggioli who discovered Messi, Rexach used this humble napkin to seal the deal that changed football forever.
The text of the deal reads: "In Barcelona, on 14 December 2000 and 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."
