Lionel Messi's first Barcelona contract, signed on a napkin, is up for auction

The napkin on which Lionel Messi's first Barcelona contract was informally written has been auctioned off.

Bonhams – a personal, London-based international auction house – is running the auction on behalf of Argentine player agent Horacio Gaggioli until May 17 with a starting price of £220,000 ($274.55,000).

The agreement was reached on December 14, 2000, when Barcelona director Carles Rexach was desperate for the club to sign the then 13-year-old Messi.

Messi had impressed during his two-week trial with Barcelona in September 2000, however the club was initially reluctant to sign such a young, non-European player.

Rexach was frightened that the Catalan club would miss out on signing Messi, who had returned to his Argentine hometown of Rosario.

Gaggioli said last 12 months that he informed Rexach in December 2000 that the teenager could be offered to other clubs, including Real Madrid, if they may not commit to signing Messi.

Rexach invited Gaggioli to dinner in Barcelona to make a final decision on Messi, but there was an issue: Rexach didn't have time to draft or print a contract, but needed the suitable signatures on a document that may later turn out to be legally binding.

His solution was to take a napkin and write down contract language, which was then signed by the relevant parties to signal a legal obligation.

The napkin read: “On December 14, 2000 in Barcelona and in the presence of Messrs. Minguella (agent Josep Maria) and Horacio (Gaggioli), Carles Rexach, technical secretary of the FCB, under his responsibility, despite the opinions of others who oppose are a commitment from Lionel Messi as long as the agreed fees are adhered to.”

Rexach signed the napkin alongside football agents Minguella – who has worked on several Barca deals prior to now, including Diego Maradona – and Gaggioli.

“This is one of the most exciting items I have ever dealt with,” said Ian Ehling, head of positive books and manuscripts at Bonhams New York. “Yes, it is a paper napkin, but it is the famous napkin that was at the beginning of Lionel Messi's career.

“It changed the life of Messi and the future of FC Barcelona and was instrumental in bringing some of football’s most glorious moments to billions of fans around the world.”

Years later, Gaggioli commented on the event, calling it a “wonderful moment.”

“This napkin broke the deadlock,” he added.

“My lawyers looked at it. Everything was written on the napkin: my name, his name, the date. It is notarized. It was a legal document.

“It will be a part of me for the rest of my life. The napkin will always be by my side. I live in Andorra and I kept the napkin in a safe in a bank.”

On Wednesday, Minguella told Catalunya Radio that the napkin had been lying in his office for years and that he had offered Barcelona the chance to display it within the club's museum.

He claims he has not received a response from Barcelona and can now ask lawyers to seek out out who the rightful owner of the napkin is and the way someone can prove that they’re the rightful owner of the napkin as a way to put it up on the market.

Minguella has insisted that he doesn’t intend to make a benefit from the napkin, but that he would relatively see it within the Barcelona museum or for the cash, if sold, to go to the club's foundation.