LONDON — Bidding began on Wednesday (May 8) for a napkin on which football club Barcelona penned a promise to sign a 13-year-old Lionel Messi — who went on to become one of the game's greatest players — with early bids reaching almost US$300,000 (S$406,890).

The napkin was signed in December 2000 when Carles Rexach, then Barcelona's sporting director, agreed with agent Horacio Gaggioli to recruit the Argentine teenager who went on to become the club's all-time top scorer.

Bidding for the document, described by auction house Bonhams as "blue ink on a standard Spanish waxy napkin," was at 220,000 pounds (S$372,196) shortly after the sale opened, according to the auctioneer's website.

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