Rosell planned to sell star Barca trio

Joan Laporta says Barcelona president Sandro Rosell had previously planned to sell Xavi, Carles Puyol and Victor Valdes.

The former president has had run-ins with the present holder of the position at Camp Nou, and has been critical of the running of the club recently.

Rosell was Laporta’s senior advisor in the 2003 elections for the Barca presidency, and the 49-year-old has confessed that some of the team’s stars could well have been sold.

“Rosell wanted to sell Puyol, Xavi and Valdes for losers,” Laporta told Catalunya Radio.

“The current board is trying to change the four pillars of the club: (Johan) Cruyff, La Masia, Catalunya and UNICEF.”

Laporta has not ruled out a potential return to the corridors of power at Camp Nou – a prospect he feels Rosell and the current board would not relish.

“Rosell and company are nervous about the fact that I expressed publicly an interest in returning to Barca – it seems that they want anything but that to happen,” he said.