The serviette on which Barcelona dedicated to signal a 13-year-old Lionel Messi has been bought in an public sale for £762,400.
The beginning worth was £300,000 for the ‘customary Spanish waxy serviette’ which is 16.5 x 16.5cm and was laminated and framed.
The serviette, signed in blue ink in December 2000, carries a pledge from then Barcelona director Carles Rexach to signal Messi.
It was additionally signed by Josep Minguella, a switch adviser to the Spanish membership, and agent Horacio Gaggioli, who beneficial the Argentine teen.
The serviette in blue ink was provided in an internet public sale by London-based Bonhams on behalf of Gaggioli.
Messi joined Barca a month after the deal was agreed and went on to develop into their report goalscorer and plenty of regard him as the best participant of all time.
He made his first-team debut aged 16 and scored a report 672 objectives in 778 video games for the Catalan membership.
Messi received 10 La Liga titles and the Champions League 4 occasions at Barcelona earlier than leaving for Paris St-Germain in 2021 – and the 36-year-old World Cup winner now performs for Inter Miami.
The serviette was signed at a gathering organized by Rexach, who invited Messi’s father Jorge to lunch after considerations from the Messi household a couple of lack of response from Barcelona following {the teenager}’s preliminary trial.
Translated into English, it reads: “In Barcelona, on 14 December 2000 and within the presence of Messrs Minguella and Horacio, Carles Rexach, FC Barcelona’s sporting director, hereby agrees, beneath his duty and no matter any dissenting opinions, to signal the participant Lionel Messi, supplied that we maintain to the quantities agreed upon.”
