The beginnings of the Argentine Lionel Messi, the current star of the American Inter Miami, and the legend and historical scorer of Barcelona, are linked to many very special stories.
Among these strange stories is the story of the first contract Messi signed with Barcelona.
On December 14, 2000, Lionel Messi signed his first contract with Barcelona on a napkin, in an incident that seemed strange and reflected the reluctance of the Barça management at the time to sign a thirteen-year-old player.
At that time, it was not common to include players at such a young age.
The Spanish newspaper “AS” reported that a dispute had broken out between Josep Maria Minguella, the veteran player agent who claims to be the owner of the original handkerchief, and Horacio Gaggioli, Messi’s agent at the time.
Gaggioli claimed that he was the owner of the handkerchief that Messi signed at the time, to which Minguella responded in front of the media recently that he was the real owner of the handkerchief.
The auction, which took place at Bonhams auction house in the United Kingdom, opened with a starting price of $380,000 for the handkerchief, but was expected to reach $635,000 later, but the auction was stopped due to the dispute between Minguella and Gaggioli.
For his part, Gaggioli said: “This handkerchief has always been mine and Minguella is not telling the truth. I have repeatedly said in the media that I am the original owner of the handkerchief, and no one else has claimed otherwise, whether Minguella or anyone else.”
“Minguela’s claims are contradictory and untrue. One day (in February this year) he said the handkerchief was in a folder in his office, and it seems he did not think about what he said. Because a few days later he confirmed that he had it at the Pompeia Tennis Club,” he added.
“That means the handkerchief was never in his office in a folder,” he continued. “The stories he tells contradict each other. Minguela never knew where the handkerchief was, because it was never his. He always knew the handkerchief was in my hand.”
He concluded: “He has not benefited from this handkerchief since December 2000 and now he is simply trying to benefit from the sale at the expense of the truth.”