Lionel Messi: Napkin that sealed football legend’s move to Barcelona put up for sale for £300K
A napkin that helped launch the career of football superstar Lionel Messi, is being put up for auction.
The napkin, itself something of a legend in the world of football, served as an unusual contract to secure the Argentine prodigy’s move to Barcelona in 2000.
Potential bidders will face a starting price of £300,000 for the piece of football history and have until 17 May to make an online offer with auctioneers Bonhams.
Messi enjoyed a trophy-laden career at the Spanish club. Pic: AP
Messi, then 13, had been on trial with Barcelona in September of that year, but by December his father Jorge had reportedly become frustrated by the club’s failure to tie down his son.
The LaLiga club’s sporting director Carles Rexach stepped in, pulling out a 16.5cm by 16.5cm napkin at the Pompeia tennis club in the company of Josep Minguella, transfer adviser to the club, and Horacio Gaggioli, the Argentine agent who brought Messi to their attention.
The text of impromptu deal, reads: “In Barcelona, on 14 December 2000 and the presence of Messrs Minguella and Horacio, Carles Rexach, FC Barcelona’s sporting director, hereby agrees, under his responsibility and regardless of any dissenting opinions, to sign the player Lionel Messi, provided that we keep to the amounts agreed upon.”
The napkin was signed by Rexach, Minguella and Gaggioli. That night, Barcelona president Joan Gaspart confirmed the agreement.
It is being sold on behalf of Gaggioli, who brought Messi to the club’s attention.
Messi went on to score 672 goals for the club, winning four Champions League titles and 10 LaLiga titles.
Pic PA
Ian Ehling, head of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York, said: “This is one of the most thrilling items I have ever handled.
“Yes, it’s a paper napkin, but it’s the famous napkin that was at the inception of Lionel Messi’s career.
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“It changed the life of Messi, the future of FC Barcelona, and was instrumental in giving some of the most glorious moments of football to billions of fans around the globe.”
Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami in the MLS, has eight Ballon d’Or awards to his name, and won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022. He is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time.
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
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It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
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Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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