Why has auction for the napkin on which Messi “signed” for Barca been stopped?

The Argentina captain famously agreed to join Barça by signing a napkin, which had been on sale at Bonhams auction house.

The auction to buy a napkin on which Lionel Messi first “signed” for Barcelona has been halted as a result of a legal dispute between two people who were present at the meeting who both claim it is rightfully theirs. Veteran agent Josep Maria Minguella has forced bidding to be stopped at Bonhams auction house because of a tug of war with Horacio Gaggioli, who was representing the Inter Miami star at the time in Argentina.

What was the starting price to bid for Messi’s Barcelona napkin?

In a statement issued by his lawyers, Gaggioli has hit out Minguella, who has appeared in the media recently claiming the he is the real owner of the serviette, which Messi signed at the age of 13 at the end of December 2000 as he agreed to join the Catalan giants. The starting price to buy the napkin was around $380,000 and it had been expected to be sold for somewhere in the region of $635,000.

In the statement, Gaggioli insists “the napkin has always been mine and Minguella is not telling the truth about it. I have said in the media on several occasions that I am the owner of the napkin and nobody has ever claimed otherwise. Neither Minguella nor anyone else.”

Contradictory claims over Messi napkin

His explanation continues: “Minguella’s claims are contradictory and aren’t true. One day (in February this year), he said that the napkin was in a folder in his office and he didn’t give it any further thought. The next (in April), he said that I (Gaggioli) had “kept the napkin after a match (at the Club de Tennis Pompeia) and taken it home.

“That means the napkin was never in his office in a folder. His versions of the story contradict one another. Minguella has never known where the napkin was, because the napkin has never been his. He has always known that the napkin has been in my hands.”

Gaggioli has accused fellow agent of using the situation to boost his profile and has challenged him to legitimise his claims in front of a public notary, which he has so far refused to do.

“He has never claimed it (the napkin) off me since December 2000. Now he is simply trying to take advantage of the sale of the napkin being in the news to boost his image on radio and television at the expense of the truth. I responded to Minguella’s burofax on 18 March (this year) and Bonhams. We have demanded that he repeat his stories in front of a notary and he hasn’t done so”.