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MILAN -- Cagliari president Massimo Cellino has agreed to sell the Serie A club to an unnamed American consortium. Cellino, who recently took over Leeds, has been in charge at Cagliari for 22 years but was been frustrated in his efforts to build a new stadium for the Sardinian club. "I am very happy,'' Cellino told Italian news agency ANSA on Wednesday, after a meeting in Miami. "God bless them, now it will be up to them to fight with bureaucracy. I hope that they let them do what they didn't let me. "We have reached an agreement and we have drafted a letter of intent providing for their entry into the company.'' Cagliari left the Stadio Sant'Elia toward the end of the 2011-12 season after a dispute with the city council over renovating its stadium, and several matches were played in Trieste -- nearly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away from the Sardinian city. The club moved into Is Arenas for the following season but was plagued by problems with the stadium and several matches had to be played behind closed doors because of safety concerns. Cellino also suspended himself after a match had to be forfeited when he attempted to defy orders to play it in an empty stadium. Cagliari moved back into Sant'Elia for the most recent season but the stadium's capacity was limited to 5,000 fans because of rebuilding work. The club ended the campaign in 15th place, seven points clear of the relegation zone. Cagliari will become the third club in Italy's top tier to be under foreign ownership. Roma is already controlled by Americans, while Indonesian entrepreneur Erick Thohir and two associates took charge at Inter Milan last year.
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