Lionel Messi: the incredible amount they paid for the napkin on which he signed with Barcelona

The napkin was in the possession of Argentine agent Horacio Gaggioli and was offered for nine days in an online auction by the Bonhams house. The piece of paper was taken to Paris, New York and London in recent months.

FC Barcelona had considered the possibility of recovering the piece and avoiding the auction. “We will not allow Messi’s napkin to be auctioned. It has to be in the Barça Museum”, declared Junior Minguella, son of Josep María Minguella, representative of the club at the time of the signing, to the newspaper Mundo Deportivo, in February of this year.

However, he couldn’t help it. This Friday the auction ended and the napkin was sold for 762 thousand pounds sterling (890 thousand euros or, in Colombian pesos, at today’s exchange rate, almost 3,707 million).

“Yes, it’s just a napkin, but it’s the famous napkin that started Leo Messi’s career. It changed his life, the future of Barcelona and was instrumental in delivering some of football’s most glorious moments,” said Ian Ehling, head of books and manuscripts from Bonhams in New York, who said it was one of the objects that attracted “the international attention of many fans.”

Messi’s signing changed the history of the club forever. The Argentine officially debuted in 2004 with Barça and since then he won 34 titles: 10 Spanish leagues, 7 Spanish Super Cups, 7 El Rey Cups, 4 European Champions Leagues, 3 European Super Cups and 3 club World Cups.

It should be remembered that, although Messi was part of the squad, he is not considered champion of the Spanish Super Cup in 2005, as he was not included in the squad in either of the two games in which Barcelona won the title, against Betis.

Messi left FC Barcelona in mid-2021 and signed with PSG, where he spent two seasons. From there he went to his current club, Inter Miami.

After leaving Barça, Messi did not stop winning titles. The most important were the Copa América and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the Argentina team, with which he paid a historic debt and began to fight hand in hand to be the best footballer in history.