The Associated Press
LONDON — The famous napkin that linked a young Lionel Messi to Barcelona sold for 762,400 pounds on Friday, British auction house Bonhams said. An agreement in principle to sign the-then 13-year-old Messi was written on the napkin almost 25 years ago at a Barcelona tennis club. A more formal and detailed contract with the club followed soon after. An undisclosed percentage of the sale price pays administrative fees for the online auction, in what’s called the buyer’s premium.
Jorge Messi had threatened to take his son back to Argentina because negotiations with Barcelona had stalled. The napkin, containing the date Dec. 14, 2000, bears the signatures of Gaggioli, another agent, Josep Maria Minguella and Barcelona’s then-sporting director, Carles Rexach, who met at a tennis club. Rexach had asked a waiter for paper and was given a blank napkin. The starting price was 300,000 pounds .
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