The greatest collectors of football pieces are rubbing their hands at the new object that they can have in their display cases.
The most famous napkin in the world
will be auctioned
.
Yes, it is the paper where
Lionel Messi
signed his first contract to become a
Barcelona
player and forever change both his own career and the history of the Spanish club.
The British company
Bonhams
, specialized in the sale of unique and collectible items, will be in charge of carrying out the auction of the legendary document signed by a little 13-year-old Leo.
As revealed by the La Vanguardia
portal
, the event will take place
between March 18 and 27
.
And taking into account its symbolic value, it is estimated that the final offer of the auction ranges from
350,000 to 585,000 euros
.
This value is highly considered by specialists in the field of auctions.
"It is one of the most exciting objects
. Yes, it is a paper napkin, but it is the famous napkin that marked the beginning of Lionel Messi's career. It changed Messi's life, the future of FC Barcelona and contributed significantly to creating some of football's most glorious moments for billions of fans around the world," said Ian Ehling, Director of Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams in New York.
That famous napkin was signed
on December 14, 2000
during a lunch at the
La Reial Societat de Tennis Pompeia
restaurant in Montjuïc.
However,
in whose hands did the role end up remaining?
Since that date, the relic was carefully guarded in a safe by
Horacio Gaggioli
, Messi's representative at that time.
Now, the same agent was the one who offered it to be auctioned, even though his idea was different at first.
Gaggioli, posing next to the relic he has owned for years.
Photo: AP/Manu Fernandez.
As curious as it may sound, the napkin never became part of the Barcelona museum
.
Beyond that Gaggioli himself considered it appropriate to hand over the relic to the Spanish team so that it can be displayed in the room that is dedicated exclusively to Leo's story.
"I think it should be there, in a preferential place next to Messi's Ballon d'Or, since that piece of paper is what changed the contemporary history of the club," Gaggioli stated years ago.
However, the representative never managed to reach an agreement with Barcelona for the piece to change ownership.
That is why, if they insist on keeping it again,
Barcelona will have to participate as one more bidder in the auction to be held in March
, rubbing shoulders with the rest of the interested parties.
This event represents the perfect moment for the club's fans to become owners of one of the most important moments in its sporting history.
Messi's first years as a Barcelona player, after having signed a napkin.
Despite being recognized mainly for having Leo's signature, the napkin also contains the signature of two fundamental pieces that allowed the beginnings of a long love story to be made official:
Carles Rexach
, technical secretary of Barcelona who trusted in the talent of Leo. Rosarino, and
Josep Maria Minguella
, the talent scout who is credited with discovering Messi after having been in charge of supervising Leo's trip with his father Jorge through the Catalan city.
"In Barcelona, on December 14, 2000 and in the presence of Messrs. Minguella and Horacio (Gaggioli), Carles Rexach, Technical Secretary of the FCB, undertakes under his responsibility and despite some opinions against to sign the player Lionel Messi as long as we stay within the agreed amounts," said the atypical file that would end up remaining in history, under the handwriting and blue tint of a pen by Rexach himself.
And yes, at that time,
the Barcelona board of directors was not sure about paying for the medical treatment that Messi needed
.
The doubts were generated mainly from the weak economic moment that the institution was going through and the strong bet that it meant to trust that little Argentine who had only been on trial for a period of two weeks, beyond his ability with the ball under his feet. .
The rest ended up being history.