Messi's famous handkerchief is up for auction

An auction house in New York announced the display of the first contract signed by Argentine player Messi with Spanish club Barcelona in 2000 in a public auction that will be held between the 18th and 27th of this month of March.

This contract is considered the first contract signed by the Argentine player in his football career, and it was written on a paper napkin in December 2000, when Barcelona sporting director Carlos Rexach at the time agreed with agent Horacio Gagioli to include the Argentine player Lionel Messi, who became the most famous historical scorer in Barcelona.

The value of the handkerchief The value of this handkerchief is estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000 pounds sterling (about 380,000 to 635,000 dollars), but the head of the books and manuscripts department at Bonhams Auction House, Ian Ehling, announced that he expects the handkerchief to sell for more than that.

Commenting on the topic, Ehling said: “This is one of the most exciting items I have ever dealt with. Yes, it's a tissue, but it's the famous tissue that was at the beginning of Lionel Messi's career. It changed Messi's life, the future of FC Barcelona, and was instrumental in giving some of football's greatest moments to billions of fans around the world.

The reason why Messi's contract was written on a paper napkin This contract was written when Barcelona's management discovered Messi's athletic skills, who was only 13 years old at the time, but at that time not all members of the club were convinced of his exceptional qualifications and the club continued without signing an official contract with Messi .

But when Lionel Messi's father ran out of patience, he met with Rexach and Gaggioli for lunch at a tennis club in Barcelona on December 14, 2000. At that meeting, Messi's contract with FC Barcelona was signed on this napkin, which measures (16.5 x 16.5 cm). Because no contract was prepared in advance to sign with Messi, this handkerchief did the job instead of the official contract.

Although a formal contract was later concluded, the Argentine agent Gagioli kept this handkerchief as preliminary proof of the agreement and decided to sell it at public auction.