Barcelona sports chief Eric Abidal has explained allowing three players to leave for Everton last summer.

One of the most high-profile departures was that of Yerry Mina, who had only been at the club since the January transfer window.

"He had a great World Cup," Abidal explained at the club's ordinary general assembly.

"We analysed his situation internally, with the coach as well.

"We looked at whether he would stay or not.

"There aren't many players like him in the market, but sometimes there's a need to take these kinds of decisions.

"He took the decision and we took the decision to sell.

"We had the opportunity to sell him for 30.25 million euros, with 1.5m euros in variables."

Two other players who followed Mina to Everton were Lucas Digne and Andre Gomes and Abidal discussed them too.

"There was complete transparency with [Digne], as he wanted to play more minutes," the Frenchman said.

"We didn't sign a new left-back because we knew there were talented players in the B team.

"[With Andre Gomes], he went to the English league, a league that might suit his profile."