Barcelona president Sandro Rosell was willing to see Lionel Messi lost to the club for NOTHING ten years ago, it has been revealed.AS says in 2003, when Joan Laporta succeeded Joan Gaspart as president, Rosell was in charge of the sports operation of the club and found Barca weighed down by major debt problems.
Having lost Gerard Pique to Manchester United and Cesc Fabregas to Arsenal, Messi also was set to leave after his father, Jorge, had seen residency permit expire.
Messi Snr threatened to take Lionel home to Argentina and Rosell was prepared to see it happen with no available finance to keep the family in Spain.
But youth coaching staff at the time, including Pep Colomer and Guillermo Hoyos, kicked up a big fuss, warning the board it would be a monumental mistake.
In the end, a friend of Hoyos, Antoni Vilalta, agreed to employ Jorge in exchange for a percentage if Messi made the first team.
However, the contract was never met and the case, reports AS, is now with the courts.
