MADRID - VALENCIA'S main shareholder, Vicente Soriano, has said the Spanish first division side will not be forced to sell its best players - David Villa, David Silva and Juan Manuel Mata - as it has found another way to repay its debt.

'We will not be obliged to sell,' he told a press conference late on Monday to announce that an investment group, Inversiones Dalport SA, was willing to pay 500 million euros (S$1 billion) for the site of the club's old Mestalla stadium.

He also said a planned capital increase would no longer be needed because with the injection of the cash from the group Valencia's 'debts would drop to zero'.

Valencia is highly indebted, particularly because of the construction of a new stadium, and it struggled last season to pay its players and was forced to halt work on a new arena.

Last month the club sold its international defender Raul Albiol at Real Madrid for 15 million euros.

Villa has been linked to a move to Barcelona while Silva has been linked with Real Madrid. -- AFP