The ‘napkin contract’ containing the contents of the monumental first contract between the ‘god of soccer’ Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) and FC Barcelona (Spain) is up for auction.
According to BBC and ESPN on the 31st of last month (local time), this napkin, which was the starting point of Messi’s Barcelona career, will be auctioned in March through British company Bonhams.The starting bid price is 300,000 pounds (about 500 million won).
In 2000, Barcelona approached Messi’s family to sign him, who had distinguished himself early on.
However, Barcelona has no precedent of signing a 13-year-old foreign youth player, so they did not provide a clear answer to Messi’s representatives, including his agent.
In a situation where the expected contract was being pushed back one by one, the player’s father, Jorge Messi, and Barcelona’s technical director Carles Leschac met at a restaurant in Barcelona, Spain on December 14, 2000 and signed this ‘napkin contract’.
Director Lesac, who felt pressured by Jorge Messi’s ultimatum to find another team, hurriedly wrote the contract details on a restaurant napkin and presented them.
The napkin reads: “On December 14, 2000, in Barcelona, in front of Minguela and Horacio, Barcelona Director Carles Lesac decided to sign a contract with Lionel Messi for the amount agreed upon. Director Lesac will take responsibility for any objections. It was written, “It shall be done as.”
Jose Maria Minguela, who appears in this agreement, was in charge of advising Barcelona on overseas recruitment at the time.Horacio Gagioli was Messi’s agent at the time.
In this way, Messi, who joined Barcelona’s youth team a month after the contract was signed, solved the transfer problem with his home country in 2002 and made his first team appearance in a friendly match against Porto (Portugal), led by Jose Mourinho, in 2003. He made his debut in a first-team game.
Afterwards, Messi’s legendary career began. Messi, who played in 778 official games wearing a Barcelona uniform, scored 672 goals and became the best player in the club’s history.
In the 2011-2012 season, he scored 50 goals (20 assists) in 37 regular league games, scoring the most goals in a single season in the Spanish Primera Liga (La Liga).
In Barcelona, Messi swept various awards, including receiving the Ballon d’Or, given to the player with the best performance of the year, six times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019).
His winning history is also impressive. Messi has won a total of 35 titles at Barcelona, including 10 La Liga titles, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 7 Copa del Rey (King’s Cups), 4 UEFA Champions Leagues, 3 Club World Cups, and 3 European Super Cups. experienced. 스포츠토토맨